Mrs and Mrs Smith (Swan) SQ AU
by PipexVauseman
Summary: Inspired by the 2005 movie Mr & Mrs Smith. No magic, no familial ties. Major rom-com action movie feels.
1. Chapter 1

**Preface:** **Inspired by the 2005 movie Mr & Mrs Smith. If you have yet to read Mrs & Mrs Swan by hoovahoopah please do so because it is amazing and needs to be finished.**

 **AU:** **John and Jane Smith are a normal married couple, living a normal life in a normal suburb, working normal jobs... well, if you can call secretly being assassins "normal". Neither Jane nor John knows about their spouse's secret, until they are surprised to find each other as targets. No magic, no familial ties.**

"Okay, I'll go first," Emma says with a nervous chuckle, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "Let me say, we don't really need to be here. See, we've been married five years-"

"Six."

"Five, six years," Emma brushes off Regina's correction without sparing her a glance, "and this is like a check-up for us. Chance to poke around the engine, maybe change the oil. Replace a seal or two."

"Stop rambling."

This time Emma does shoot Regina a glare and the psychiatrist is the one to shift uncomfortably.

"Very well, then," Archie loosens the tie around his neck. "Let's pop the hood."

Regina rolls her eyes, "I sincerely doubt either of you know your way around a car engine."

Emma narrows her eyes and scowls, "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"It means your metal coffin on wheels was retired for a reason."

Emma frowns thinking about the custom storage shed in their back yard, expanded in size to fit tools for the gardeners _and_ her old yellow Bug. Regina had leaned more towards demolition, but this was their compromise. _Compromise._ The thought almost makes Emma laugh.

Seeing he needs to diffuse the situation before an argument can start three minutes into their session, Archie interrupts.

"On a scale of one to ten, how happy a couple are you?"

"Eight," Regina answers immediately.

"Ten being perfectly happy and one being totally miserable, or..."

Regina sighs, "You're stalling."

"Just respond instinctively," Archia amends with a kind smile.

"Okay."

"Ready?"

Emma nods and Regina stares at him blankly.

"Eight," they answer in unison.

"How often do you have sex?"

Regina flicks imaginary lint off her skirt, "I don't understand the question."

"Yeah, I'm lost." Emma doesn't sound lost, just evasive. "Is this a one to ten thing?"

"Is one very little, or is one nothing? Because technically speaking, zero would be nothing."

Emma would like to point out that her wife is now the one rambling, but she doesn't really want to answer this question either.

"How about this week?" Archie suggests.

Emma squints, as if trying to recall. "Including the weekend?"

"Sure."

"I don't understand the relevance," Regina interrupts suddenly, nervously twisting her wedding band around her finger. "Can we discuss another topic?"

"Describe how you first met."

For the first time during this entire session Regina's lips curve up, forming a small smile. "It was in Colombia."

Emma smiles as well, "Bogota. Five years ago."

"Six."

And just like that the spell is broken and they both return to their impassive expressions.

"Right. Five or six years ago."

 _ **Five or six years ago...**_

Emma sits at the bar of her hotel room, reading a newspaper and sipping coffee when the sound of sirens catches her attention. She can hear the sounds of one emergency vehicle after another passing on the street outside. She sits up, looking out the window as a group of armed men enter the building.

She motions over the bartender and asks him what's going on. He tells her The Huntsman has been killed and the police are looking for tourists traveling alone.

The men are yelling out orders when Emma turns to look over her shoulder for an exit. One of them notices her immediately and she shifts, leaning back on her elbows against the bar and subtly reaching for the gun tucked into the waistband of her jeans. It's too hot here to conceal her guns in a shoulder holster under her leather jacket and the metal is a heavy, reassuring weight against her back.

The man who noticed her motions for another officer to approach and as he does he calls out to her, "Estas sola?" She shakes her head and holds her hand up to her ear, acting like she doesn't understand. "Estas sola?"

Just then, a woman barges into the building, followed closely by two more heavily armed men while she ignores their calls for her to show them her papers.

Emma immediately disregards the man approaching her, her entire focus shifting to the beautiful woman in front of her as they openly stare at each other in what can only be described as unashamed eye sex.

"Papeles," one of the officers shouts, getting in the woman's personal space. "Estas sola?"

"No," she replies simply, further annoying him.

As he moves to grab her by the arm and escort her god knows where, certainly out of Emma's life forever, Emma steps forward, unable to see this beautiful woman go.

"No, no, no. Esta bien," she says in a broken accent, not noticing the bartender giving her a funny look because he had just been speaking with her in perfect Spanish. "She's with me. Esta bien."

She extends her hand and when the woman takes it, Emma quickly leads them away from the men asking questions in the lobby and back to her room, locking the door behind them. They both lean against it, listening to the commotion still going on outside. The woman looks up then and catches Emma's eye, giving her a smile and extending her hand again, this time for a hand shake.

"I'm Regina," she whispers.

"Emma," the blonde replies.

She doesn't release Regina's hand after she shakes it. Instead, she holds the woman's wrist in a loose grip, gently stroking her palm and giving her a shy smile.

 _ **Later that night...**_

They get lost among the locals and drink tequila at a small party in the center of town. After a toast to "dodging bullets," Regina has had enough people watching and stands, once again extending her hand to Emma.

"Dance with me."

Her voice is smoky, like the smell of the bonfire surrounding them in this outdoor fiesta. The sound burns its way down Emma's spine, like the tequila burned its way down her throat.

She leads Emma to the makeshift dancefloor and pulls her closer with an index finger hooked under the blonde's belt. Emma places her hands on Regina's hips, Regina's arms loosely drape over Emma's shoulders, and the two seem to melt together. They sway to the music, foreheads touching, lost in each other. The band plays on and their touches get more firm. Emma's fingers are digging into Regina's hips and Regina is scratching down Emma's back, hands under the blonde's shirt. Emma spins Regina and pulls her back flush against Emma's front. She encircles the brunette's waist with her arms, holding her in a warm embrace and brushes a sweet kiss against her neck. She can hear Regina humming along to the music and she gets lost again, out of the lust and into something more. Something that feels a whole lot like she could love this woman. Normally this thought would send her running for the hills, but tonight it leads her back to their table where she takes a seat and pulls Regina on her lap.

The brunette is straddling her hips and they're sharing sips directly from the bottle of tequila when the rumbling thunder they've been hearing off and on turns into a torrential downpour. Everyone else runs for cover while Emma simply tightens her hold on Regina's hip with one hand, and drops the bottle of tequila from the other, using that now free hand to cup the brunette's face and pull her in for a searing kiss. When Regina moans, Emma slides both hands down to squeeze her ass before lifting her to sit on the tabletop. She kisses Regina's neck again, this time more teeth than a sweet press of lips. Regina spreads her legs more and directs Emma's hands up her thighs.

Emma hikes Regina's skirt up around her hips and drags both hands up her thighs to the apex of her legs. She lets her thumbs gently trace both sides of damp lace panties and though the rain is pouring down on them she knows the dampness is there for her, from her.

"Em-ma," Regina moans out, and the way she says it sends a fresh shot of arousal straight to Emma's core. "Touch me."

Emma uses her left thumb to gently pull the lace fabric to the side while her right thumb drags a slow trail up the wet folds. Emma and Regina both moan at this and then they lock eyes and snap and it's fast and hard. Emma captures Regina's lips in a passionate kiss; her thumb rubs against Regina's clit; her fingers pump in and out of Regina; Regina throws her head back, the rain makes her white dress transparent; Emma sucks on her skin on the space between her neck and shoulder; Regina's hips rock and the tequila bottle falls off the rattling table; Emma lifts off her seat and leans forward to bite a nipple through the wet fabric of a dress and bra; Regina's palms come down hard and slap the tabletop in time with her chants of 'yes, yes, yes'; Emma drops to her knees in the wet, muddy dirt; Regina grinds against Emma's eager tongue and holds her in place with a fist of blonde hair.

When Regina's orgasm rips through her the sound of thunder drowns out her screams.

 _ **The next morning...**_

Regina wakes up alone and has a mini moment of panic before remembering the events from the night before, what brought her to this hotel room and the blonde who is renting it. She stretches her sore muscles before sitting up in the bed. The sheets are cool and there's no sight of the blonde anywhere. Just as a wave of disappointment settles in her stomach, the door opens.

"Hiya stranger," Regina smiles in relief, not yet ready to say goodbye.

If she's being honest with herself, she doesn't know if she'll ever be ready to say goodbye now.

"Hiya back," Emma says with a shy smile. She locks the door behind her and walks to Regina's side of the bed, placing a tray in front of her. "I think room service fled. I did what I could," she grins up at her with another shy smile.

"Thank you," Regina says sincerely, touched the blonde would think to be so considerate.

The tray has two cups of coffee, sugar, milk, and a newspaper. Emma takes one of the cups and turns, opening the doors to the balcony and stepping outside. She leans on the railing and sips her coffee, looking out at the city below while the woman in her bed looks at her.

Regina adds a splash of milk to her coffee and takes a sip, humming in approval.

"Oh, that's good."

"I hope so," Emma looks over her shoulder with a teasing sparkle in her eye. "I had to milk a goat to get it."

Regina notices the headline of the newspaper mentions the assassination of The Huntsman and when she picks it up off the tray to read the article, she sees a flower had been hidden beneath it. She twirls it between her fingers before looking up and catching Emma's eye. She tucks the flower behind her ear and Emma gives her another shy smile and _that's_ what does it. She definitely isn't saying goodbye now. The blonde looks as smitten as she feels.

She moves from the bed, meeting Emma on the balcony and they pull each other into a sweet kiss that quickly intensifies when Emma carelessly drops her cup of coffee in favor of pulling Regina close. The glass shatters like her resolve.

 _ **One month later...**_

They've been joined at the hip since they returned from Colombia, but today when they woke up Emma realized they've never gone on an actual date. As soon as they're together everything else fades away, getting lost in the background when the lust takes over. But today, the sunlight seemed to dance on Regina's skin and Emma could feel herself falling deeper. She'd never been the dating type, but she realized this is more than just lust. She wanted everything with this woman, even cheesy dates at the fair where they could go on rides and play games and Emma could win her a silly stuffed animal.

So now here they are, on a cheesy date at the fair. Emma has her arm around Regina's shoulders and presses a kiss to her temple and it doesn't really bother her anymore to think of herself as being in love, and even if she's yet to admit it she knows it's true and she doesn't really care that she's currently being so obnoxious about it.

"Step right up, ladies and gentleman. Try your luck." Regina catches the attention of the vendor at one of the booths they're strolling by. "How about you, little lady? Wanna try your luck? Win a prize?"

Regina smiles and Emma smirks at the evil glint in her eye, already knowing how competitive the brunette can be.

"Yeah, all right. Two," Emma tells the vendor, holding her cup of beer between her teeth so she doesn't have to drop Regina's hand and she can still reach in her pocket for some cash to pay him.

"Two," he repeats. "We got two over here."

It's a shooting booth, little targets twirling, spinning, and flipping around to the sound of classic arcade music. Emma leans back with a cocky grin and watches Regina pick up the airsoft rifle from where it's chained to the counter of the booth. She's beyond sure that she'll be better at this than the brunette and god she's looking forward to the competitive snark sure to come her way. There's something about the passion Regina gets in her eyes that Emma finds intoxicating and there's no quicker way to get it than riling the brunette up.

"Do you know how to hold it?"

Regina doesn't miss the cocky grin or the fact that Emma's already trying to push her buttons, but she has a cover to maintain, even with the blonde she's finding herself falling for more every day. She pushes down her natural urge to shoot all the targets perfectly (and maybe then Emma) and holds the rifle in an awkward and loose position against her small frame. She's standing rigidly and holding the rifle way too low to provide her with the ability to aim accurately. She starts pulling the trigger, moving in random directions.

Emma laughs at her piss poor shooting, "You gotta aim it."

"I am," Regina giggles. Sure, Emma's made her giggle before, but by surprising her in the shower or kissing her neck while whispering sweet words in the dark. This is a fake giggle, meant to distract Emma and further prove she's just a silly girl who doesn't have any clue how to handle a weapon. It works. Emma is laughing harder and shaking her head in fond exasperation. "Don't laugh, I'll kill you."

In the end she's only hit 4 targets out of 10 shots.

"You didn't blink," the blonde admonishes her with a shake of her head before picking up her own rifle and holding it up to her shoulder, looking through the sight and hitting 8 out of 10 shots. She shrugs at a scowling Regina like it's no big deal. "Beginner's luck. Do we still get something?"

When the vendor passes Emma a small stuffed animal she holds it out to Regina and shakes it with a lazy smirk becuase while it's a prize, they both also know it's a taunt.

"I want to go again," Regina tells her stubbornly because while it's a game, they both also know it's now a fucking competition.

"Going again," Emma chuckles and digs some more cash out of her pocket.

While she's distracted passing her cash over, Regina holds the rifle correctly and looks through the sight. This time she hits 9 out of 10 shots.

Later, Emma hands her small stuffed animal to a kid running through the crowd because Regina's holding a stuffed bear that's so big she's not sure she'll be able to fit it in the back seat of the Bug. She drapes her arm back over the brunette's shoulders, pulling her close and dropping a kiss to her cheek.

"Where'd you learn to shoot like that?"

Regina looks up at her with an innocent smile and bats her eyelashes, shrugging her shoulders in a very Emma-like fashion.

"Beginner's luck."

 _ **Two weeks later...**_

Emma is sparring with August while Ruby stands outside the ring, yelling at her.

"You've only known the girl for six weeks!"

"I'm in love," Emma grunts, dodging August's swinging fist. "She's smart, sexy..." she bounces lightly on her feet, waiting to jab at him, "...uninhibited, spontaneous, complicated. She's the... sweetest... thing... I've ever... seen," she adds, firing off body shots.

"I knew Peter two and a half years before he asked me to marry him. You have to have a foundation of friendship, Em. The other stuff fades," Ruby retorts, then gets distracted by some actual boxers entering the gym, finding the handsome muscular men more attention-grabbing than the lecture she's providing. "Hi."

xxx

On the other side of town Regina is indoor rock climbing with Kathryn who has some concerns of her own.

"So you don't think this is all happening a little fast?"

"You know I never do anything without thinking it through."

"What does she do?"

"She's in construction. Big-time contractor."

xxx

August now has Emma pinned, his knee in her back and his forearm across her jaw, pushing her face into the mat while she struggles against him.

"A server goes down on Wall Street, she's there. Anytime, day or night," she finally wiggles enough to break free of his hold and flips over but he still has her restrained with his legs. "She's like Batman for computers," she grits out around his choking hold.

xxx

"She's gone as much as I am," Regina adds, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. "So it's perfect."

She can't see Kathryn on the line beside her because she's gained considerable distance above her. Just like the shooting game at the fair, everything is a competition. Because she can't see Kathryn, she doesn't notice the way her friend's eyebrows lift and her eyes widen disbelievingly at the word 'perfect.'

xxx

"I give the whole thing six months, tops."

Emma and August are locked against each other in what would, outside of the ring, look like maybe a drunken swaying hug but is now a less-than-friendly grapple. She looks over his shoulder and locks eyes with Ruby.

"Rubes. I asked her to marry me."

"WHAT?" August yells and flips her over his shoulder, slamming her to the mat.

"I'm getting married," comes Emma's muffled reply. She's on her back with her arms tucked up to protect her face while August punches her.

Ruby still hasn't wrapped her mind around what just happened, "What?"

"I'm getting married!"

"What? I can't hear you."

August keeps swinging.

"...getting...married..."

"I can't hear. August, can you stop hitting her? She said something crazy."

August stops swinging but yanks Emma off the floor and into a chokehold, "Clearly, she _has_ gone crazy!"

"I'm getting..." she chokes a little when August squeezes harder and manages to slightly pull his bicep away from her throat, "...married."

August shakes his head and drops Emma to the mat where she lies wheezing on her back. She takes a deep breath and lifts one hand in the air, victorious.

"You think you won?" August asks incredulously and barks out a loud laugh. Maybe he should stop choking her during these matches, she's obviously in need of oxygen to her brain.

Ruby still can't find the words to reply.

"Of course," Emma chuckles. "I'm getting married."

 _ **Five or six years later...**_

Emma walks to the end of the driveway. Sent by Regina with a cup of coffee to fetch the morning paper. She grinds her teeth, annoyed that her wife sent her out like a dog to retrieve it. Maybe not a dog, but definitely her wife's bitch. Across the street she notices David Nolan doing the same and when he waves at her with a big, friendly smile she merely nods in acknowledgement before trudging back inside.

She can't count how many times she's heard him say 'happy wife, happy life' and maybe it's true because the residents of the Nolan estate seem awfully chipper while across the street in the Smith manor things are a bit more... icy. She doesn't know what happened, where the fire went. She used to push her wife's buttons because it was amusing to rile her up and the passion that lit her up was intoxicating but now she does everything in her power just to get a reaction. Anything at all. It seems like her wife no longer loves her, but merely tolerates her presence. When she'd brought it up, Regina had suggested couple's therapy and Emma suspected it was a ploy to make her uncomfortable enough to drop the topic, so naturally she agreed.

She leaves the paper on the kitchen table and goes upstairs, standing beside Regina at the sinks in their bathroom, brushing their teeth in silence. She brushes for longer than normal, purposely standing at her sink between Regina and the hook where she normally hangs her robe before stepping into the shower so maybe her wife will invite her in, or hell just be forced to acknowledge her. Regina apparently decides to go for Option C and simply passes the robe to Emma without a second glance. The blonde extends her hand and carelessly drapes the robe over the hook it belongs on, letting it fall and crumple to the floor because she knows how much Regina hates a mess. Out of the corner of her eye she watches the vein in her wife's forehead pop out and her jaw clench, but she steps into the steam of the shower wordlessly.

Later, they're both moving around one another, getting dressed for work in their large walk-in closet.

"What did you think of Dr. Hopper? His questions were a bit wishy-washy."

Emma is pulling a sweater over her tank top when she recognizes Regina's tone. She's trying to get out of going back, but wants Emma to think it's her idea. Her back stiffens, but she replies in a bored drawl, "Yeah. Not the most insightful."

"And his office is clear across town."

Regina is giving her another reason not to go, which is all the more reason why they should return, but she doesn't feel like calling her out on it or doing this little dance right now, so she merely hums in agreement.

She turns then and sees Regina in her bra and stockings, garter belt visible since she's still holding her skirt on a hangar in her hand. She's got her back to Emma, standing on her tip toes to reach a blouse hanging off the top shelf with her free hand. Emma sighs, knowing it's dangerous to get any closer after seeing her wife in this state of undress. She knows she'll just want to touch her and the brunette will bat her hands away. But god damn it, she still loves the woman and she still thinks she looks adorable without the height her heels provide.

She moves to stand beside her, momentarily placing her hand on the small of Regina's back to still her movements before she reaches up and grabs the blouse for her. Regina looks up at her and when they make eye contact she can see a thousand different emotions swirling in deep brown eyes. She wants to kiss away the ones that look like frustration and doubt and pain, not sure why they're there in the first place. When she leans in Regina steps back and looks down. She fidgets with the clothes she's holding, awkwardly putting them on.

Regina isn't awkward. Regina doesn't fidget. Emma bites her lip to keep from saying anything that might lead to an argument and shifts from one foot to the other, stuffs her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and gives in.

"Four o'clock means we hit rush hour. Not crazy about that."

Regina nods, like the matter has been resolved. "So that's settled then, yeah?"

Emma shrugs in the bored, careless way she knows Regina hates, "Okay."

Regina watches Emma's retreating form, headed back for their bedroom in defeat and closes her eyes, "Okay."

They avoid each other while they finish their pre-work routines, only meeting again at the back door on their way out of the house. Emma silently lifts Regina's coat from the coat rack and helps her pull it on, Regina grabs the travel mug of coffee Emma forgets on the counter most days and passes it to her after she finishes pulling on her red leather jacket. It's another thing Regina hates that Emma uses to try to get a reaction out of her. Nothing today.

She follows her out the door to the garage, frowning once again when she thinks about her Bug being banished to the storage shed and glares at the car Regina had her buy to replace it. She clicks the button to open the garage door and walks past Regina's new Mercedes and places her tavel mug on the roof of her new BMW so she can open the driver's door. Matching sleek black sedans. Expensive black sedans. _Happy wife, happy life,_ Emma thinks with a roll of her eyes.

"Dinner's at seven," Regina reminds her.

"Yup. I'll be there. Here. Whatever."

They both pull out of the garage and drive down the driveway. When it narrows to form a single car exit they both slam on their breaks. Emma grinds her teeth and sighs, looking over and making eye contact with Regina before motioning with a sarcastic sweep of her hand for her wife to go ahead.

 _ **Later that night...**_

Regina is chopping toppings for a salad, annoyed at the tone of the timer that's beeping on the oven when she notices headlights. She looks out the window and watches Emma maneuver in the extended portion of the driveway so she's able to back into her parking spot in the garage beside Regina's car. She looks back at the clock on the stove and notes it is 6:56. She twirls a knife between her fingers and glares at the closing garage door.

Emma sits in her car for a moment, collecting her thoughts before going in the house. She can't afford to sit out here too long. Heaven forbid she walk in at 7:01. She opens the compartment in the center console meant for change and retrieves her wedding band, slipping it back on her ring finger. When she pushes the button on her visor to close the garage door she notices an odd red splotch on the collar of her jacket. She adjusts her rear view mirror and does a double-check, realizing it's not the red of the leather; it's a dirty smudge. Most wives would have to worry about a dirty red smudge on their spouse's collar being from lipstick. Not Regina. The red on _her_ spouse's collar is blood.

Groaning, she gets out of her car and walks a little slower than she normally would in the rain, heading back to the main house and using the rain to wipe the remaining blood away.

"Hey babe," she calls out and hangs her coat on the coat rack and takes off her boots like a good, obedient wife. She knows walking into the kitchen with wet, muddy boots and a dripping leather jacket would definitely get her a reaction from Regina, but she's not sure that particular reaction would be worth it.

Regina glances back at the clock and notes that it is 7:00.

"Perfect timing," she says, relieved Emma didn't dawdle in the garage in an attempt to challenge her today for no reason other than to simply challenge her.

"It's pissing rain out there," Emma grumbles. She tosses her keys into the bowl by the door, the spot Regina dictates they be kept to maintain order, and finds her wife chopping vegetables in the kitchen. "I got the butter you asked for," she places it on the counter next to the cutting board Regina is using and presses a quick kiss to her cheek.

"How was work?"

"Eh," Emma shrugs while thumbing through the mail, "so-so." She looks up when she hears the knife has stopped chopping and sees Regina looking at her expectantly. She knows her wife well enough to understand the brunette is wondering why she's just now walking in the door if work was just 'so-so.' Unless something had delayed her, he should have been home an hour and a half ago. It doesn't take 90 minutes to pick up butter. "Oh, I stopped off for a drink with August."

"Hmm." Regina notices the label on the butter and frowns. "This is salted."

Emma looks up from the mail again, "What?"

"The butter," Regina sighs. "It's salted."

"Is there any other kind?" Emma asks in a bored drawl.

She can see the vein in Regina's forehead pulsing.

"Unsalted. The kind I asked for." She glares at Emma who just glares back. She knows what her wife is doing. Taking a deep breath she shrugs it off. "It's fine. I'll make it work." Deciding she's not going to give in and engage Emma in an argument she waits long enough for Emma to get to the bar and start fixing herself a drink before she decides to change the topic. "Oh, I got new curtains."

"Did you?"

Regina walks around the corner and notices Emma look up from her drink long enough to take a quick glance at the curtains and turn back to what she was doing.

"Well? What do you think?" Emma makes a non-commital noise and Regina presses on, "There was a struggle over the material. This tea sandwich of a man got his hands on them first, but I won."

"Of course you did," Emma mutters.

"They're a bit green, so we have to reupholster the sofas and get a new rug. Maybe a Persian."

Emma's back stiffens, "Yeah. Or, we can just keep the old ones. Then we don't have to change a thing."

Regina glares at her, "We talked about this. You remember?"

"I remember," Emma nods her head and takes a sip of scotch. "I remember 'cause we said we'd wait."

Regina sighs, "If you don't like them, we can take them back."

"Okay," Emma nods again, seeing this for the trap it is but unwilling to back down. "I dont like them."

Regina fixes her with a look that would make anyone else wilt, "You'll get used to them."

Emma takes a longer sip of her scotch, "Yeah."

 _ **The next day...**_

"So, part two. Here we are," Archie uncaps his pen and places it on top of the legal pad on his lap. "Only this time, you came back alone. Why did you come back, Emma?"

"I'm not sure really," the blonde says with a shrug. "Let me clarify, I love my wife. I want her to be happy. I want good things for her. But there are times..." she holds her hands up, shaking them in the air and miming how she would sometimes like to just throttle her wife whom she loves and adores so much.

xxx

"So, Regina. Why did you come back?"

"There's this huge space between us and it just keeps filling up with everything that we _don't_ say to each other. What's that called?"

"Marriage."

She gives Archie an unimpressed look, "Helpful."

"What don't you say to each other?"

She thinks back to dinner the night before.

 _"This looks nice. Did you do something new?"_

 _"I added peas."_

 _"Peas," Emma nodded. "Yeah, it's the green." After a moment the silence between them started to become suffocating and Regina silently wished Emma wouldn't ruin it trying to be combative. "Babe, will you pass the salt?"_

 _So much for wishes. Emma knew her wife hated it when she added unneccessary amounts of salt to food._

 _"It's in the middle of the table."_

 _"Oh," Emma tried to adapt a tone of innocence. "Is that the middle of the table?"_

 _"Yes," the vein started to throb. "It's between you and me."_

 _They stared at each other, both daring the other to say or do something until finally Emma sat up and leaned across the table, grabbing the salt and shaking it repeatedly over her food. Regina stopped mid-chew to glare at her. The blonde cut into the meat on her plate, scraping the knife against the china roughly so a grating sound echoed in the room like Regina's icy glare was grating on her nerves. She took a bite and picked back up the salt, shaking it over her food again, desperate for a reaction. Regina took a long sip of wine and locked her jaw shut._

xxx

"I know it probably feels like you're the only people going through this, but there are millions of couples that are experiencing the same problems."

Emma laughs, "Uh huh."

xxx

"How honest are you with her?"

"Pretty honest. I mean..." Regina twirled her wedding band around her finger nervously, "...it's not like I lie to her or anything. We just... I have little secrets. Everybody has secrets."

 _ **A few days later...**_

A few days had passed since Emma and Regina had both gone back to visit Dr. Hopper. Emma was rinsing the dishes in the sink before stacking them neatly in the dishwasher, the way Regina liked it done, wanting to help her wife with cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. Regina walked past and noticed one of the plates in the dishwasher still had food on it and took it back out, rinsing it again. Emma's teeth started to grind and she grabbed her scotch from off the counter beside her and took a large gulp. When Regina turned around to gather the cutting board and knife from the kitchen island behind them, Emma snapped. With their backs to each other she knew Regina couldn't see her so she calmly raised the next plate she was meant to rinse and cracked it over the edge of the sink, shattering it and sending glass raining down onto the floor by her feet.

"Sorry, babe." She noticed the vein in Regina's forehead and held out an arm to keep her from coming any closer. "I'll take care of it."

Regina opened her mouth and whatever she was going to say died instantly on her lips when they heard the sound of her cell phone ringing. She stepped over the glass and hurried out of the kitchen to grab her phone before the call ended.

Emma finished cleaning up the mess and loading the dishwasher, then washed her hands and grabbed her now empty glass, heading back to the bar for a refill. She took her scotch and headed for the den to retrieve her own cell phone from where she had left it to charge when she notices Regina across the hall in the study. The door is just barely open and she is speaking quietly, so Emma can't hear what she's saying, but she's looking at her computer and smiling at whoever is on the other line. Emma can't remember the last time her wife smiled at her like that. The brunette laughs and nods her head before ending the call and shutting down her computer. She types out a message on her phone as she leaves the room, oblivious to her wife watching her from across the hall.

Emma gives Regina 15 minutes to herself before wandering off to find her. She's in their room, her back to the door, fastening the belt on a long black overcoat. Emma rattles the drawer on her nightstand when she yanks it open, purposely loud to startle her. It works and Regina jumps a little.

"Jesus! Emma," she chuckles with nerves thick in her voice. "Darling, you scared me."

"I'm sorry, babe. I was looking for the..." she waves her hand around in a vague way, still rummaging in her drawer because she honestly doesn't know what she can say she's looking for in there. Regina is distracted though and doesn't seem to notice. "You going out?"

"Yes. Some moron crashed a server in a law firm downtown and ended the world as they know it, so yes."

"Hmm," Emma tries to use her lie detector but she's never been able to get a really good read on Regina. Besides, she's got some business to handle herself and it would be easier to let this drop for now before she has to provide an alibi to sneak out for a little while. She looks at her watch and notes the time. She'll just need an hour or so to get this done. The time reminds her what their plans for later that evening were. "We promised the Nolans."

"I know. I'll be there."

xxx

Regina has a cab drop her off outside the hotel where her mark is staying. A guard at the door to the suite tells her they have a plane to catch in an hour. He escorts her to the bedroom where she locks the door behind her.

xxx

Emma has a cab drop her off outside the bar where her mark plays poker. She wanders past the tables and booths to the back where the bathrooms and entrance to the stock room are. Inside the stock room is a door labeled Employees Only. She removes her flask from the inside pocket of her leather jacket and takes a deep pull. Shaking her limbs loose she stumbles in the door, feigning drunkenness.

There are three men seated around a table playing poker and they all look up and start yelling when she walks in the door.

"What the hell?"

"Who the fuck are you?"

"What's this shite?"

"Sorry," she holds her hands up, appeasingly. "Where's the can around here? Hey," she lets her words out with a slow, lazy, drunken sounding lilt, "you guys playing poker?"

"Private game."

"Piss off."

"Could I sit in? You think I could-"

"What part of 'piss off' do you not understand?"

"Guys. Whoa, whoa. Be a little friendly. I got the cash," she reaches behind her back and one of the men pulls his coat aside, revealing a gun on his hip. "Dude. I'm just showing you my bank roll, man. I got the money," she pulls a wad of cash out from her back pocket and flashes it around the table. "You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Poker? Don't even know her. So if you want me to sit down, I'll play some cards. If you don't, I won't. It's fine with me," she pretends to fumble with the cash, acting like she's going to slip it in the pocket of her coat and instead dropping it all over the floor at her feet. "Anyone interested? Nah. 'Cause I'll clean you out. I understand. Fine. Listen, I want," she bends down then to pick up the cash, purposely banging her forehead on the chair in front of her. "Hey, those are really nice shoes, man." She uses the chair she hit her head on to help herself stumble into an upright position, then points at it excitedly. "Here's an empty chair! I could sit here."

"That's Robin's chair."

"Where's Robin?" She turns in a full 360 degree circle. "I don't see Robin."

"Robin's not back yet."

"Then I'll sit here. Unless," she smirks at them, "you don't want to get your asses kicked by a girl."

xxx

Regina can hear the mark gargling mouthwash in the bathroom. She rolls her eyes and shifts, standing at perfect attention and refusing to let her annoyance show further. The man walks into the room and stops, taking a moment to eyeball her. He must like what he sees because he smiles and comes closer, nodding his head and signalling for her to lose the coat. She loosens the belt and shrugs it off, letting it pool around her feet. The man's mouth hangs open when what is underneath is revealed. Regina is wearing a latex dress, if you can even call it that. It's a skimpy little thing that stops at mid thigh, attached to a garter belt with fishnet stockings. A healthy amount of cleavage is on display and though he can't see it, she's sure her ass looks amazing thanks to the height provided by the ridiculously high heels she's wearing. She reaches up behind her head and pulls a metal pin from the middle of her bun, letting the hair fall down in loose waves around her shoulders. Her hair is much longer than it was when she first met Emma and she thinks if her wife could see her now she would likely combust.

xxx

"Solid silver," Emma assures her new poker pals when she puts her flask in the middle of the pot.

One of them picks it up to examine it and notices the engraving.

"To dodging bullets. Love, Regina."

"In the pot! Put it in the pot!"

"She's got nothing better than a pair of fives, mate."

"No way! You're the one with 14 different tells!"

"He is bleeding William Tell."

They're mocking him, humming the William Tell overture from The Lone Ranger when the door opens and a man says, "What the hell is this?"

"Sorry, Robin."

"Looks like you're done, Em. Thanks for the memories."

"Oh, are you Robin?" Emma looks over her shoulder at the man still standing in the doorway, "No kidding."

"What do you want? You looking for a job or something?"

"You _are_ the job," she fires twice, the sound of his body hitting the floor louder than her gun, thanks to the silencer on the end of the muzzle. She quickly slides her chair back from the table, grabbing her other gun in one fluid motion and holding both arms out, shooting the men next to her before turning her weapon on the man across from her. Standing up from her seat she does a quick sweep of the room, assuring all four men are dead before reaching across the table and checking the cards which have yet to be turned over. "Pair of threes," she huffs.

xxx

Regina has the man on his knees, hands cuffed behind his back. She walks around him, a riding crop dancing over his skin. She knows this isn't exactly professional, but her mother has always compared her to a cat batting a mouse around.

"Have you been a bad boy?"

She brings the riding crop down hard against his back and he moans.

"Yes."

"You know what happens to bad boys?" She hits him again and he moans louder. "They get punished."

"Ooh, yeah. Punish me."

He's beyond grossing her out now so she decides the time has come to finish this. She bends over, her hands sliding over his shoulders and around his neck as she leans in to whisper in his ear, "Have you been doing plastic surgery for members of the cartel, Dr. Whale?" When he gasps and starts to jerk away she snaps his neck and lets his body crumple lifelessly to the floor. She wipes everything down she's touched and puts her coat back on, tying the belt in place. Reaching in her pocket, she retrieves her phone, sending a text that her task has been completed and notes the time. "Ugh. The Nolans."

When she strolls out of the bedroom she tells his guards to let him rest and closes the door behind her before calmly leaving his suite and taking the elevator back down to the lobby. They don't notice something's wrong until she's already leaving the building. She can hear the yelling as she climbs in the taxi that drives her away.

 _ **Later that night...**_

"Everything okay at work?"

"Yes, everything worked out fine. How was the game?"

"Game was good."

Emma knocks on the Nolans's front door and doesn't say anything else but she's got a lazy grin on her face and when Regina moves in closer to smoothe out some creases from the blonde's sweater she can smell the liquor on her breath.

"Have you been drinking?"

The lazy grin just gets wider and Emma shrugs, "I went to the sports bar with August. Put some money on the game."

Just as Regina's mouth opens to no doubt start lecturing Emma, the door opens to reveal the way too cheery smiles of David and Mary Margaret.

"Welcome neighbors!"

There's no reason a cop and a school teacher with an infant should look this sprightly all the time.

Emma makes small talk with David while they head towards the bar. He grabs them both a beer and motions her over to where he'd previously been chatting with Sean, Eric, and Phil.

"How'd you make out last quarter, Emma? Take a beating?"

"Actually, I've got all my dough buried under the tool shed."

They all laugh and the conversation carries on but Emma's attention is drawn across the room where Regina is sitting on a couch next to Mary Margaret and Ashley.

xxx

"So, Sean got the promotion."

"Oh my god, that is so great!"

"We are _so_ excited. We can finally put the addition on the kitchen."

"That's great and... Oh, shoot. Not again. Shoulda worn a raincoat." Mary Margaret pulls her son back from the vomit on her shoulder and looks over at Ashley but she's already got her own daughter sitting on her lap, so she looks over at Regina. "Would you mind? Could you hold him for a second?" She tries to pass her son to Regina who immediately leans away.

"What? No."

"Please? I just need to get some seltzer. It'll only be a moment."

Without another word, she passes her baby to Regina who shifts him around from the awkward position Mary Margaret put him in her hands and adjusts his little body until she's holding him in the crook of her arm. He quietly stares at her and then he smiles.

"Aw," Ashley coos. "He likes you."

She looks up then and catches Emma's eye from across the room. The blonde looks down at the baby, then back at Regina and gives her a small, shy smile. It's a smile Regina hasn't seen in quite some time and it reminds her of Colombia. It reminds her of better days, days before her mother got in her head and reminded her that this marriage was just a farce and only to be used as a cover. _Love is weakness, Regina._

 _ **After the party...**_

They're back at home, in the bathroom doing their nightly routine before bed. Emma looks up from the sink, watching Regina brush her teeth.

"I liked your dress tonight," she tells her sincerely with a shy smile. She's tired of the arguing, of everything being so hard. She misses how it used to be, when Regina used to let the blonde love her. "It was nice."

"Thank you," Regina smiles back but immediately feels guilty. If this is just a cover it's not fair to lead Emma on. She really does love the blonde, but letting her think she has hope of making Regina feel more than what this needs to be is cruel to both of them.

When she gets in bed Emma is already there, curled up quietly on her side. She's given up trying to spoon her wife. Cuddling with the brunette tends to make Emma a little handsy and she's not in the mood for rejection tonight.

Just as Regina settles in under the covers her phone rings. She checks the caller ID and thinks about taking the call in another room but just as she moves to get out of bed, Emma's phone rings too. They both answer and talk quietly with minimal responses before ending their calls and hanging up.

"Everything all right?"

"Yes. It was my mother. She thinks she has pneumonia. I'm sure it's just a cold, you know how she can be."

"Yeah," thinking quickly because now she'll need to get away for a few days, Emma throws a suggestion out into the literal dark. "Maybe you should go see her."

"Maybe," Regina agrees easily, thinking about how she'll have to get away for a few days anyway.

"Okay," Emma curls back to the edge of her side of the bed, facing away from Regina. "Goodnight then."

Regina starts to close her eyes before a thought hits her, "Who was that?"

"Hmm?"

"Who was on the phone?"

"Oh," Emma mumbles into her pillow. "Just the corporate office. Problem with the specs for that dam August has been working on. I have to fly out in the morning. I'll be gone a couple days."

"That damn dam," Regina muses to herself.

"That _damn_ dam."

"Okay," she rolls over as well. "Goodnight, Emma."


	2. Chapter 2

_**The next morning...**_

Emma rolls her carry-on bag to the storage shed on her way out of the house. Once inside, she opens the door to a hatch hidden in the floor under her Bug and walks down the stairs, taking silent inventory of the weapons and cash stockpiled in the room.

She loads her bag with a stack of cash, three bombs, and two handguns before throwing some ammunition on top. After zipping the bag closed she picks up a large case leaned in one corner of the room. It stands at about shoulder height and has a large G-40 grenade launcher inside.

xxx

Regina wakes up to an empty bed and cold sheets. She jumps out of bed and heads downstairs, fiddling with the buttons on the oven and broiler in a random manner that when pushed in the right order enter a secret code, opening the oven and revealing a secret compartment inside housing all Regina's handguns and knives. She selects one of each before closing her secret compartment and grabbing a cup of coffee from the pot Emma left warm for her.

xxx

Granny greets her from the reception desk with a gruff, "Get rid of that gum."

Emma rolls her eyes, "You got a tissue or you want me to spit it in your hand?"

Granny lifts an unimpressed eyebrow and holds out a tissue in one hand and the trash can in another, "Something crawl up your ass and die this morning, Mrs. Smith?"

"I've already got one lady griping at me in my personal life, I don't need it in my professional life. What do you got for me?"

Granny hands her a folder, "Boarding pass, taxi receipts, hotel bill."

"Thanks."

"Don't lose those, you'll need them for your cover. Keep them in the folder."

"Morning, Emma," August says as he walks in. "How you doing?"

"Don't ask," Granny replies sarcastically.

"I'm _fine_. What about you?"

"Same old, same old. People need killing." He turns back to her then before they part ways, headed for their own offices. "Oh, Em. Might have a little get-together this weekend at my house. Barbecue, no ladies," he winks at Granny when he says this, "and drinks. It's gonna be awesome."

Emma nods and opens the door to her office, "Yeah, I'll talk to the missus."

"You want to use my cell phone? Maybe give her a call in case you decide to scratch your ass or take a piss later." He yells louder when Emma ignores him and closes the door behind her, "Make sure she thinks it's okay."

"You live with your father!"

"Why bring him into this? He's a first-class dude. And I don't have to check in with him when I want to do something. He cooks, he cleans. He makes me snacks. And I'm the dumb guy?"

Emma continues ignoring him and pushes the button that will close the blinds to her office, giving her total privacy from the outside world. She sits in the chair behind her desk, turns on her computer, and when it asks for her login ID she says "White Knight." The computer activates the home page for Gold's Guild, the hit firm she works for and an automated voice speaks to her.

"Hello, Emma. Quite the body count this week. We have a priority one, so your expertise is required. The target's name is Killian Jones A.K.A. Captain Hook," a mug shot and rap sheet appear on her screen. "He's a direct threat to the firm. DEA custody. They're making a ground-to-air handoff to heli, ten miles north of the Mexican border. I need you to make sure the target does not change hands."

"'Captain Hook?'"

xxx

Regina steps off the elevator to the private entrance for i-Temp Technology. She walks in the door, past a reception desk, and through another door which is not labeled. The lights are low, allowing a full body x-ray while she stands still on the floor while it moves her forward for inspection. An automated voice asks for her code name to verify her voice ID while a retinal scanner focuses on her eye.

"Evil Queen."

"Regina Smith, confirmed. Stand by for contact."

A distorted image of the Queen of Hearts comes on screen. Had she not been raised by the woman she would have a hard time making out the picture. It's designed that way for a reason. Keeps Cora's identity safe.

"Regina, dear," Cora's voice warbles on the transmission for the exact same reason. "I'm sorry I had to disturb your... stroll into the office, but we have a bit of a situation. You know the competition would love to see us burn. I need you to handle this personally."

"Of course, mother. Who's the target?"

"Killian Jones. I'm sending you the specs now. We need this quick, clean, and contained."

"Yes, mother."

The doors open and Regina walks down the stairs to the belly of the office where Kathryn greets her with a cup of coffee.

"Good morning, Regina." The brunette gives her a quick nod and accepts the folder she's holding out. "Yesterday's op resulted in one kill, one agent in protective custody."

Regina nods again, "We'll get him out tomorrow."

Lacey approaches them with a form Regina needs to sign, "Hello, ma'am. Two cases of G-40s are here."

"Order ten more." She motions for Kathryn to follow her to her office. "All right," she settles in the chair behind her desk and activates the projector on the wall in front of her. "Go, Kat."

Kathryn pushes a button on the remote in her hand, bringing up the specs. "The target's name is Killian Jones A.K.A. Captain Hook."

Regina's face wrinkles in disdain, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. He's being moved across the border to a federal facility. The only point of vulnerability is just south of the border."

Regina studies the screen for a moment before giving her orders.

"I want GPS and SAC of the canyon and the weather report for the last three days."

"He'll rendezvous with a helicopter at a deserted airstrip. We've only got one chance to strike."

 _ **The next day...**_

Regina perched on the edge of the abandoned building she was using for cover, watching the caravan holding Killian Jones through her binoculars.

"Are we green?" Kathryn asked over the ear piece.

Regina checked her laptop which showed a 3D scan of the land around her, a green box indicating where she had placed explosives. "Perimeter is armed. We are up and running." All she had to do now was sit back and wait. She kicked her feet out in front of her, enjoying the way the sun was warming her skin.

Her eyes were closed so she didn't see the dust kicking up from the offroad vehicle quickly approaching, but she did hear the horrendous music it was blasting. Her eyes shot open and she sat up in her seat, removing her sunglasses to get a good look at a Polaris RZR ATV speeding through the desert, driven recklessly by a maniac listening to 'Nothin' But A Good Time' by Poison.

"Oh, come on," Regina groaned before picking up her binoculars and scanning the distance for the DEA convoy. She locked on them before turning back to the ATV, projecting the image back to her office. "Are you getting this?"

"Affirmitive. Is it a threat?" On another pass around her green perimeter the ATV made a sharp turn and kicked one of the stakes holding Regina's explosive charges out of the ground, triggering a countdown. "The countdown has been initiated, Evil Queen. Convoy is not in the zone yet."

"There's an idiot in the field who's going to blow the charges," Regina snapped.

She could hear the music while she typed on her laptop, stopping the countdown.

 _Don't need nothin' but a good time_

 _How can I resist_

 _Ain't lookin for nothin' but a good time_

 _And it don't get better than this_

Emma jumped out of the ATV as the song ended, doing air guitar in time with the end of the song.

Regina picked up her binoculars in time to see the end of 'the show' and groaned, "Ugh. Civilians." Turning to check the distance from the convoy to her cover, she missed Emma reaching in the back seat to retrieve her G-40. When Regina once again turned her attention back to the 'civilian,' her binoculars picked up a weapon scan and highlighted the grenade launcher in red on her digital display. "I'm picking up a weapon signature!" She yelled to Kathryn over the ear piece. "Shit. Not a civilian." She picked up a long range rifle from behind her and pointed it at the chest of her new target. "Asshole."

She fired a shot and Emma dropped to the ground, groaning. The DEA caravan crossed into the green and alerts started sounding on Regina's laptop, stealing her attention away before she could see Emma sit up and clutch at her chest.

"Countdown is initiated," Kathryn informed Regina while Emma stood up, flicking the bullet off the bullet proof vest she was luckily wearing under her tee-shirt.

Emma turned around and ripped the goggles off her face which released the bun she had twisted her long blonde hair into. She shook her head, letting her hair fly in loose curls and bent down, grabbing the G-40 from where she had dropped it when the shot had knocked her flat on her back. She dropped to one knee and spun around, the sight against her eye to locate her target and the base of the launcher draped across her shoulder for stability.

"Let's see if we can't get a tune out of this old trombone," she muttered to herself before locking onto her target, the abandoned building on the cliff up ahead where the shot had come from. She fired off a grenade, thinking as it blasted out in a loud explosion that she probably should have remembered to put in ear plugs before she retaliated. "You should so not be allowed to buy these things."

Regina's laptop beeped with a self destruct signal after Kathryn warned her to abort mission. The charges she had planted went off, then the computer died. The DEA convoy wasn't in the proper position to be impacted by the explosives. Emma's G-40 explosion followed by Regina's perimeter explosion scared them off and they immediately turned around, speeding away.

Emma turned at the sound of a motorcycle engine and saw a lone figure driving away in the opposite direction on a dirtbike. She kicked the side of the ATV and yelled in frustration before hiking up the side of the cliff, looking through the rubble for any valuable information her shooter might have left behind. She picked up a charred laptop. The screen was warped from the heat of the explosion, it was missing keys from the keyboard, the disc drive was stuck open, but it was the only trace of another person being out there that she could find.

 _ **The next morning...**_

Emma and August sat together at the counter of a diner.

"I think I got ID'd on that hit," she mumbled around her breakfast. "You ever been ID'd on a hit?"

"Not that I'm aware of, no."

"Right," Emma's head bobbed in agreement as her mind raced. "I'm in trouble."

"You get a good look at him?"

She shrugged, "Little thing. Buck ten, buck fifteen tops."

"Maybe he's Filipino."

Emma took a deep breath and shoved another bite in her mouth before finally admitting, "I'm not even sure it was a him."

August laughed and choked on his sip of coffee. "Are you saying you got your ass kicked by some girl?"

"Hey," Emma glared at him and pointed her fork in his face. "I'm a girl too."

"Yeah, but not just _some_ girl. You're the White Knight," he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows mockingly.

"I don't think this is just some girl either, August. She was a real pro."

"Are you sure you're not just saying that because she made you look like a little bitch?"

"Fuck you."

August laughed again and held out his hands, content to lay off her for now. "Okay, okay. On the bright side, it shouldn't be that difficult to determine who it was. I mean, how many other chicks are hitters out there?" The waittress wandered over then, shamelessly flirting when she asked if they wanted any dessert and August shamelessly flirted back. "What do you have, honey?"

"Ice cream. Delicious."

"What flavors?" August asked for the both of them since Emma was just staring blankly ahead and shoveling the remainder of her food in her mouth.

"Chocolate and vanilla."

"I don't like either of those. But mixed together," he teased, "that could be a nice little dish. You know what I mean? And not just the little pink spoon, I want the whole sundae." He winked at her and she smiled back.

"That can be arranged."

"Perfect. 'Could be arranged.' You hear that?" He elbowed Emma, "I'd like to have her kick my ass, know what I mean?" When Emma showed no sign of amusement or even acknowledging his flirting he shifted back to the conversation that was still clearly on her mind. "Any other details besides her weight class?"

"Laptop."

"Sorry? You're in a whole zone right now."

"Laptop."

"O-kay," he shrugged off Emma's blank stare and weird behavior. She was just stressed. "Okay, laptop. Let's get Ruby to check it out."

xxx

"I want to know who that bitch is," Regina raged, storming through the office while Lacey tried to tend to the cut on her back. "Get me that tape," she waved her away.

"But, Regina-"

"Get me that tape!" Her cell phone rang and she checked the caller ID, ready to ignore the call until she saw who it was on the other line. "The FBI secured the package. The window's closed, mother."

"I told you we couldn't afford mistakes."

"There was another player."

"We do not leave witnesses, Regina. If this player ID'd you... You know the rules. Regardless of who your mother is, you still have to play by them. You have 48 hours to clean the scene."

"Looking forward to it," Regina replied sarcastically before ending the call. She knew her mother would rip into her for not issuing a proper farewell but she was already beyond pissed. They both were. _Fuck it. What else can go wrong?_ "Okay, people. We have a new target. Let's find out who our 'civilian' is."

xxx

"Jesus," Ruby held the laptop by the screen between her thumb and pointer finger, not sure where she should start. "What did you do to it? Put a campfire out with it?"

"Rubes, I'm not having such a great day. In fact, yesterday kinda sucked too. So I'm just hoping you can tell me who the owner of this laptop is and if you'd leave the running commentary out as a bonus, I would be forever grateful."

Ruby chuckled, figuring Emma deserved a temporary reprieve because of the mess the owner of the laptop/charcoal briquette had gotten her into and got to work in silence.

A few minutes ticked by before her tinkering was successful, "Here we go. Upgraded RAM module." She pulled the chip out and ran the serial number. Numbers flicked across her screen as the information was sorted and loaded. "Chip's Chinese. Imported by Dynamix. Retailed by..." she typed some information in, "...huh. You know, I might be able to get you a billing address." She typed and her screen flashed with some more information before she leaned back in her seat, pointing at the screen. "All right. No name, just an address. 570 Lexington Avenue, Suite 5003. You know the place?"

It was vaguely familiar and Emma rushed out with a quick thanks, racing to her shooter's address.

Once she got near the building she immediately knew why the address had sounded so familiar. She slowly ambled her way inside to the directory in the middle of the lobby. Scanning the 5000 suites on the board she stumbled back when her finger highlighted the information for 5003.

i-TEMP TECHNOLOGY STAFFING

REGINA SMITH, CEO

And just like that, everything clicked.

"Holy fuckballs."

xxx

Regina sat at her desk reviewing the tape she asked for. It was the digital footage from her binoculars she had electronically transferred to Kathryn during the op. She was watching the 'civilian' drop to the dirt after Regina had taken her shot, then sit up and clutch at the entrywound. She hadn't seen this before as her attention had been diverted to her mark. When the 'civilian' turned around and ripped goggles off long blonde hair was revealed. Regina leaned forward in her seat when the blonde hair was shook out in loose curls.

"Regina," Lacey called out from the open door, a phone in her hand. "It's your wife." Regina's mouth dropped open and she hit the rewind button on the footage, ignoring Lacey because she immediately recognized the 'civilian.' She had seen Emma shake her hair out like that nearly every time she stepped out of the shower. "She's back early from her work trip and wants to know about dinner."

And just like that, everything clicked.

"Tell her..." Regina looked up from her computer screen with an evil smile, "...dinner is at seven."

"Hi, Emma," Lacey chirped back on the line. "She says dinner's at seven."

Emma smirked, "It always is."

 _ **Later that night...**_

Emma slowly pulled in the driveway looking for suspicious activity. Ruby and August had told her not to act crazy or go in guns blazing. She needed to approach this like any tactical mission. She had a target. She knew where the target was going to be and at what time. If she acted funny Regina would immediately notice something was going on and bolt. This was her one chance to fix things and take the bitch out. The problem? The bitch was also her wife.

She backed her car into the garage beside Regina's like normal. She slipped her wedding band back on like normal. She could do this. She could be normal. She realized when she slowly opened the back door and ducked her head in to survey the kitchen after creeping and skulking her way up from the garage that she looked anything but normal. She was on edge. She pulled her coat off, hung it on the coat rack, and when she turned back around to enter the kitchen nearly jumped out of her skin noticing Regina silently standing in the doorway. The sneaky brunette had silently snuck up behind her and was now standing there with a glass of scotch.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Emma gasped. Usually the clicking of Regina's heels alerted Emma to her wife's presence. She looked down and noticed the usual heels were missing, making Regina much shorter and apparently much quieter.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I startle you, darling?"

"A little," Emma answered honestly with a nervous chuckle.

"It _is_ 7:00," Regina smiled innocently. "Perfect timing, darling."

"As always," Emma smirked, then reached out to take the glass of scotch from Regina. "This is a nice surprise."

"I hope so. You're home early."

"I missed you."

Regina smiled and Emma could almost hear the evil laughter that was no doubt going through her mind, "I missed you, too."

"Hmm," Emma hummed.

They stared at each other for a moment and it was not the stare of loving spouses who had been separated during a business trip. It was the stare of cat and mouse and Emma was left hoping that for once in this marriage, she was the cat.

"Shall we?" Regina gestured towards the dining room.

Before Emma could turn and follow she noticed a jug of Draino sitting on the kitchen counter and gulped. _Is this asshole really trying to poison me?_ She slowly trudged behind and when Regina gestured for her to take a seat she noticed the fine china on the table.

"I thought you only brought these out for special occassions."

"This is a special occassion," Regina said sweetly.

Emma just tilted her head, her body language alone screaming _Really?_

Regina nodded and motioned again for her to take her seat. As she passed, Regina took her glass and helped herself to a healthy sip of the blonde's scotch, then winked at her and pressed the glass back into her hand.

 _You should have known there would be mind games. That doesn't mean she's not trying to poison you. Maybe that was a mind game to throw you off her tracks._

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and when Regina left the room to grab the main course Emma pocketed the knife left on her placemat. It was small, meant to be used with her fork and on food, not in a fight against her wife, but she wasn't taking any chances.

Regina reappeared and Emma gave her a bright smile, "Lasagna. My favorite." She shifted nervously in her seat when Regina pulled out a large knife to cut out their servings. She jumped up, taking the knife out of Regina's hands, "Here. Let me do it, babe. You've been on your feet all day."

"Thank you."

Regina walked around the table and pulled an even bigger knife out from under her apron and began slicing the garlic bread. They served each other and placed the knives down strategically within grabbing distance.

"So how's work?"

"Actually," Regina chuckled, "we had a little trouble with a commission."

"Is that right?"

"Mhm. Double booking with another firm."

Emma's lips curved up of their own accord, tilting into a small smile she was unable to hold back. If this was happening to anyone else she would be laughing.

"Well, I hope everything worked out okay."

"It hasn't yet, but it will. I hope you enjoy your dinner. I know it's your favorite."

Emma smirked at the way Regina was smiling at her. She looked like a sweet angelic little thing. _Angels don't shoot people with long range rifles. Nice try, she devil._ With that thought alone Emma couldn't resist asking once more, just for old time's sake, "Babe, could you pass the salt?" When Regina motioned for Emma to look down she noticed her wife had moved it right in front of her plate. She couldn't hold the laughter in after that. With a chuckle she picked it up and shook it over her food, maintaining eye contact with Regina from across the table. The brunette sat studying the blonde, looking completely calm with her chin resting atop her folded hands. Emma took a big bite after Regina took a small dainty one, but then realized she was eating the lasagna and Regina was eating a bite of salad. She tugged on the collar of her sweater, suddenly convincing herself once again that her wife had poisoned her. There was definitely a different taste to the meal and it was not helping her paranoia. "Try something new?"

"Red pepper flakes. Gives it a little kick that's to die for."

"Mm." Emma tugged on her collar again and reached for her glass of water to wash it down but thought better of it and picked up the scotch instead, deciding Regina wouldn't ingest poison just to bluff her out.

"How was your dam project?"

"Had a few problems ourselves. Some figures didn't add up."

"Big deal?"

"Life or death." Emma stood, deciding the game had gone on long enough and it was time to call Regina out. "Wine?"

She picked up Regina's wine glass and gave her a healthy serving, but remained standing at the brunette's side after passing it back. Without warning, she dropped the wine bottle and Regina reflexively reached out and grabbed it before it could hit the floor. Emma's eyes widened and she met Regina's curious gaze before the brunette realized she too was caught. She dropped the bottle and let it splash on the rug and they both made their way in separate directions, rushing off with excuses to get something to clean the mess with.

Emma ducked into the den, quickly emerging with a gun, silencer screwed into the muzzle. She looked around the corner before ducking back into the dining room.

"Gina? Babe?" She saw lights bouncing off the walls, then heard tires squealing and when she looked out the window she saw Regina peeling away. She ran out the front door and started cutting across her neighbors' yards, trying to catch up with Regina's speeding car. "Regina!"

Regina shook her head, tears in her eyes. "How could I be so stupid?"

"Regina!" Emma yelled out, attempting to jump a fence to finally cut Regina's escape off when one of the wooden slats gave out and cracked in the middle. Her arm fell through and she accidentally squeezed the trigger on her gun, firing off a shot. "Oh dear god," she muttered when she heard the sound of slamming breaks. She pulled her arm back through the hole in the fence and looked down the street where Regina's car was parked in the middle of the road, a bullet hole in the middle of her windshield. She pulled herself over the fence and walked to the middle of the street, facing her now glaring wife and holding her hands in the air. "Regina," she started to explain when the brunette revved her engine. "Wait! No, no, no, no, no. Accident. Babe? That was an accident." Regina stomped down on the gas and Emma pointed at her, "Regina, stop the car, now. Regina?" Regina didn't stop the car. She didn't slow down. She hit Emma and watched as the blonde rolled up the windshield and onto the roof. "You're overreacting." Regina started swerving, trying to throw Emma off. "Let's not get carried away. We don't want to go to sleep angry. Pull over." Regina looked up and saw Emma through her moonroof and punched the glass, not hard enough to break it, just hard enough to hurt her own hand and get her point across to her wife that there was no fucking way she was pulling over. She closed the visor so she wouldn't have to see Emma anymore and continued swerving. "Now, look..." Emma swung her legs over the side of the roof and kicked in the rear window behind Regina, swinging her body into the back seat. "We need to talk!"

Apparently, Regina disagreed. She opened the driver's door and rolled out, letting her car drive off the road, crashing somehwere in the woods.

 _ **Later that night...**_

"Okay, I'm coming! Who is it?" Ruby yelled at whoever was banging on her door.

"It's Emma!" The banging continued, "Open the fucking door!"

Ruby unlocked all the deadbolts and yanked the door open, ready to tear into the blonde when she saw maybe somebody already had.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"My wife."


	3. Chapter 3

Ruby had called August who now sat in the kitchen with her while Emma paced around them.

"She tried to kill me!"

"Yes, she did," August nodded his head vehemently. "And you know what? Tamara tried to kill me," he waved off Emma's glare. "Not with a car. At least Regina was a man about it. At least she was upfront about it. But they all try to kill you. Slowly, painfully, cripplingly. And then, wham! They hurt you. You know how hurt I used to be over her? I used to beat myself up. Now I'm great. I got dates all the time. I was just at a thing, I was in my robe."

Ruby rolled her eyes, "You live with your dad."

"I choose to! And remind me, Ruby. Granny is where exactly? Downstairs, right? Because you live with her. Why? Because she's the only woman you've ever trusted. Right? Why? Because women are the worst. They're not to be trusted."

Emma and Ruby both glared at him before the blonde shook her head and sighed, "It's just unbelievable."

"I know exactly what you're thinking," August added with a scratch of his beard. "If she lied about that, what else has she lied about?"

"He's got a point, Em. I mean, her job is to spy. To get information from people."

"French Riviera. A yacht. An Iranian prince. She's supposed to get close to him and gain his trust," August says the last word with a wink, then shakes his head. "It's disgusting."

"What? What are you saying?"

xxx

"WHAT?" Kathryn couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Your wife is the 'civilian'? That's impossible."

The brunette in front of her quickly downed another shot of vodka before turning to the blonde with an unimpressed look.

"Really?" Regina drawled.

xxx

"This was probably planned from the beginning. Operation Stakeout Emma. A six year stakeout to get information from you. Mission accomplished."

"That's probably not helping," Ruby smacked the back of August's head and handed Emma a beer.

xxx

"Okay," Kathryn took a deep breath. "Here's the upside... You don't love her."

Regina downed another shot, "No."

"You'll kill her, and nobody's better at that than you are. And then it will be over."

Regina refilled her shot glass, staring at the bottle in her hands and wondering why the thought of 'over' wasn't providing her with any comfort.

xxx

"I'm just saying, it's like the first 150 pages of a book have been written. In the first 150 pages, Emma's been a clown. Well," August shrugged, "you can write the last 10 pages. You've been smoked but you can write the last 10, know what I'm saying?" Emma nodded wordlessly and August yelled out to her when she wandered out of the kitchen, "Great talk, Em. We should do it more often. It was great, I'm proud of you."

Emma popped back in the room holding a shotgun, "I'm gonna borrow this."

Ruby just laughed, "I like where your head's at."

"I'll do it in the morning."

"That would probably be best."

xxx

Kathryn checked on Regina once more before leaving, "You okay?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, face down on the couch in her office, the bottle of vodka hanging loosely from her fingertips.

"Okay. Goodnight."

"Night," Regina mumbled back. Once she heard the door close and knew she was alone she let the tears fall. "You don't love her," she spit out, trying to convince herself.

 _ **The next morning...**_

Regina followed Kathryn, Lacey, and an intel team from the Queen of Heart's Royal Guard into her house. The large black cup of coffee she was nursing wasn't helping with the hangover headache anymore than the large black sunglasses she was wearing. She could hear Kathryn giving orders when she walked in the open door.

"...pocket litter, receipts, matchbooks. You know the drill."

After seeing one member of the guard cut open the stuffed bear she had won on their first date, pulling out the stuffing to search for a wire, and another three reviewing the tape from her wedding ceremony, Regina decided to get some fresh air and step outside. Of course, that's when Mary Margaret noticed her.

"Howdy, neighbor!" she waved and Regina had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. "What's going on over here?"

Regina looked back at the guards now moving boxes of confiscated materials in boxes back to the i-Temp van they had arrived in.

"Just getting a jump on a remodel project before Emma gets here," Regina said with a large, fake smile plastered on her face.

"Wow! That's so sweet, Regina. I'm sure she'll be surprised."

"I hope so," Regina smirked.

xxx

Emma ushered David over for a tour of the house. He didn't need to know she was using him as a human shield in case Regina was still there waiting to ambush her. What he didn't know wouldn't kill him. Well, maybe technically this time it might.

"Wow! I can't believe I've never been over here before. This is great."

"Start with the living room," Emma suggested, steering him ahead with a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, nice floors. Are they teak or something?"

"Red oak, David. Red oak."

She directed him to the den where he noticed a small trophy, "And you won the neighborhood block party softball tournament MVP award this year. Again."

Emma chuckled along with him, still keeping a wary eye out for a trap, " _Again._ That'll be sitting on your mantel next year."

She let him wander around freely before sneaking out the back door, headed for the storage shed and the hatch hidden in the floor under her Bug. This time when she walks down the stairs there's nothing to take a silent inventory of. The entire thing has been cleaned out. All the money, weapons, ammunition, and explosives are gone. With how thoroughly it's been wiped she's honestly surprised Regina left the lightbulb dangling overhead.

 _I guess this victory wouldn't be so sweet if I couldn't actually see she'd robbed me blind._

"Bitch," she mutters quitely to herself. When she walks back up the stairs and closes the hatch door, then her eyes, she takes a deep breath and silently counts to ten. She's on her 4th round of 10's when she kicks one of the doors on her Bug.

xxx

"Target profile is our main priority. Utilize all means necessary. Phone taps, credit cards, audio scan civilian frequencies-"

"With what, Regina?" Kathryn asks.

The brunette simply reaches across the conference room table and pushes the button on her answering machine where it sits bagged up. Emma's voice warbles out on a recording, "You've reached the Smiths. We can't take your call, but leave a message after the tone and we'll get back to you."

"And search the database."

"For what? Emma _Smith._ "

"Just find her."

Lacey looks up from her computer, "Regina?"

"What?" Regina snaps.

"I think I found her."

"Where?"

"Here," she says simply, pointing to the screen where red lights are flashing.

 _'Heat sensor breach in the perimeter,'_ an automated voice warns them and an alarm starts to ring out a shrill sound. _'Commence scanning all floors.'_

Just then, the phone rings. Regina knows immediately who's on the other line. She picks up the call on speaker phone, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

"I thought I told you not to bother me at the office, darling."

"Well, you _are_ still Mrs. Smith."

"So are a lot of girls," Regina snarks back and Emma chuckles.

"Careful, babe. I can push the button any time, anywhere."

"My dear, you couldn't find the button with both hands and a map."

Emma licks her lips and shakes her head, "Last warning. You need to disappear."

"No."

"Now."

 _'D Sector clear.'_

"You expect me to roll over and play dead?"

"Should be used to it after five years."

"Six. And I'm not leaving."

 _'E Sector clear.'_

"Uh huh," Emma drawls. "Anywhere, any time."

 _'Intruder detected.'_

"Evacuate Plan C," Regina tells them before typing in a code to wipe all the hard drives and systems.

 _'Evacuation in progress. Evacuation in progress. Evacuation in progress...'_

As everyone moves quickly around the room shredding important documents, wiping computers, and setting up their escape, Emma crawls through the air ducts above. When she kicks open a vent and drops to the floor behind them she sees Kathryn and Lacey firing harpoons into the building across the street through broken windows and zip line over. Regina looks over her shoulder, makes eye contact with Emma, winks, and does the same. Emma runs to the open window to watch as Regina lands with a running finish.

"Chickenshit!" Emma screams at her.

"Pussy!" Regina screams back.

Emma glares, Regina smirks, and they both think _god damn it, this is going to be harder than I thought._

 _ **Later that night...**_

Emma returned to Ruby's house where she could pick through the remains of the shredder she found in Regina's office. Tonight Ruby is the one pacing and holding the shotgun.

"You're telling me that you had a shot at her and you didn't take it? We've got all this stuff here," she motions to the weapons spread out over random surfaces, "and you're trying to tell me you couldn't take her out? Well, now she's a problem for both of us. Now my house is priority one."

"Just gimme a hand, will you?"

"You're driving me crazy with the magnifying glass and the tongs and the shredder. You're like an insane person." Emma ignores her and continues to use the tongs to pick out pieces of paper, one by one, and the magnifying glass to examine them, so Ruby plows on. "All right, they gave you 48 hours, right? What have we got left here? 23? 22?"

"18 and change."

"You've got 18 hours until Gold closes the book on you?"

"Ruby?" Granny calls out and Ruby startles, pumping the shotgun and holding it in position to fire.

"Granny!" she screams, "We're on high alert here! I almost killed you right then, you do not even realize!"

"Never mind."

"I am so done playing games with this broad. You gotta take this bitch out head-on."

Emma points the tongs at Ruby, "Don't tell me how to handle my wife."

"She's not your wife, she's the enemy. She could be outside right now!"

"Rubes?" Emma holds up a piece of paper with the tongs, "Got it."

Ruby takes the paper and examines it. They both recognize the logo.

"Forrest Property Management? Now we're talking."

Emma grins, "So tomorrow I call, claiming to be from i-Temp, and see where they're setting up shop. They evacuated the old office and now I have the connection to find the new address."

 _ **The next morning...**_

Emma uses the construction equipment from her cover to sneak into the building where Regina's new penthouse is being renovated. She's standing under the camera of an elevator when it slams to a stop. The speaker overhead crackles to life with a distorted robotic voice.

"This is security. There's a problem with your elevator, ma'am. Do you want engineering to come up and see what the problem is?"

"Take your time, I'm really quite comfortable."

"Are you _really_ comfortable?"

Emma chuckles, "Regina? Is that you, babe?"

"First and last warning, Emma. Get out of town."

Emma can hear the smirk in her wife's voice now that she's removed the voice modifier. She turns to face the camera head-on, her hands on her hips.

"You know I'm not going anywhere."

"Well, so you say. But right now, you're trapped in a steel box hanging 70 floors over nothing but air."

"Oh, so this is a trap?" Emma drawls sarcastically.

"She's in car 3," Lacey whispers.

"It's never gonna work, babe. It's never gonna work, because you _constantly_ underestimate me."

"Do I?"

"You have no idea who I am. You have no idea what I'm capable of."

"Well, back at you, darling," Regina purrs.

"Let me guess. Shaped charge on the counterbalance cable, two more on the primary and secondary brakes? Maybe?"

"She found them," Lacey whispers in a panic.

"Yes, thank you," Regina glares at her. Turning her attention back to the video feed of Emma in the elevator she asks condescendingly, "Did you also get the base charge on the principle cable?" Emma looks around nervously and bites her lip. "Promise to leave town, or I'll blow it."

"Okay," Emma shuffles nervously and kicks the ground with the toe of her boot. "I give up. Blow it."

Regina's eyebrows shoot up in genuine surprise, "What?"

"Go on," Emma challenges her with a daring tone, "blow it."

"You think I won't?"

Emma looks directly in the camera with a smug, confident smirk on her lips.

"I think you won't."

"Okay," Regina chuckles. "Five, four... Any last words?"

"The new curtains are hideous."

"Goodbye, Emma." A bomb goes off and an elevator explodes. The live video feed cuts out and Regina looks at where Kathryn has her finger on the detonator. "What the hell was that?"

"What? You said goodbye."

They hear the elevator crash after falling all 70 floors. If anyone managed to survive that explosion they definitely wouldn't have survived that fall.

Emma shakes her head in disbelief before exiting car 4. She had hacked into the system and swapped the video feeds so Regina would think she was in car 3. She had done it at Ruby's insistence because she honestly didn't believe Regina would try to blow her up. She didn't believe they had come to this. She didn't want to finish it. Now she would.

 _ **Later that night...**_

Regina sits alone at a table for two in the fancy restaurant where Emma had proposed. She's in a short black dress sipping a glass of champagne while a tear rolls down her cheek. She closes her eyes and tries to think of anything other than Emma and wipes the tear away. A hand closes over hers and tilts the glass she's holding, refilling her drink. If she couldn't see the burgundy leather in her peripheral vision she would know who it was anyway by the gentle touch alone.

"I thought of a number of lines for this moment." Emma's tone is soft and quiet. Regina knows it's the tone she uses when she's hurt. "'Thought I'd just drop in.' 'Hey, doll. Thanks for giving me the shaft.'"

"Nice," Regina chuckles, fighting off a sob of relief knowing the blonde is still alive. "So what did you decide?"

Emma gives her a pained smile, "I want a divorce."

"I like it. You proposed to me here, so it has agreeable symmetry."

"May I sit?"

"No."

When Emma sits anyway a waiter approaches, asking if she'd like champagne as well.

"No, champagne's for celebrating. I'll have a martini."

Once they're alone again Emma watches Regina lean back in her chair and pull the gun from her purse onto her lap, calmly covering it with her napkin. The blonde shakes her napkin out as a distraction and reaches for the gun on the shoulder holster under her leather jacket, also moving it to her lap and coolly hiding it under her own napkin. They stare at each other in silence until the waiter returns, placing the drink in front of Emma.

"You're not in the proper attire for this establishment," Regina says, her voice thick with disdain to hide attraction. Emma is wearing black knee-high boots, black jeans, a black sweater, and the dark burgundy leather jacket Regina first noticed. Emma prefers her favorite red jacket but Regina is fond of this one and she's sure the blonde wore it tonight for that reason. "I'm surprised they let you in."

"I like the dress," Emma replies sweetly, motioning towards Regina's outfit and ignoring the brunette's barb.

"I'm in mourning," Regina snarks. The black did seem apropos after the incident earlier with the elevator.

"You should wear it more often."

The brunette leans forward, "What do you want, Emma?"

"We have an unusual problem, Regina. You obviously want me dead, and I'm less and less concerned of your wellbeing. So what do we do? Shoot it out here, hope for the best?"

"Well, that would be a shame, because they would probably ask me to leave once _you're_ dead."

Emma ignores her wife's condescending smirk and extends her hand, "Dance with me."

Regina lifts an eyebrow, "You don't dance."

"That was just part of my cover, babe."

She stands and wiggles her fingers. Regina eyes her suspiciously but stands as well, taking her hand and allowing Emma to pull her onto the dance floor.

"Was sloth part of it too?"

Emma squeezes her fingers tightly in response and Regina huffs and yanks her hand away. She pulls the brunette close to her body, chest to chest and they sway to the music. Regina's arms are draped over Emma's shoulders while Emma's arms are wrapped around Regina's waist, her fingers interlocking on the small of the brunette's back.

"You think this story's gonna have a happy ending?"

"Happy endings are just stories that haven't finished yet."

Emma moves her hands to gently squeeze Regina's hips and moves her back to a glass column, slamming the brunette into it. She can hear the glass cracking and sees Regina wince. When her eyes open she glares at the blonde and then they start dancing again like nothing happened.

When Emma dips Regina she runs her hands over her wife's body, subtly patting her down for weapons.

"Satisfied?"

"Not for years."

When she runs her hand up Regina's bare thigh she feels a knife tucked into a garter. She pulls it out of its casing and throws it across the room, impaling it in the wooden wall. Regina drops low and runs her hands down Emma's legs, patting her down as well. She immediately finds the knife tucked into her boot and does the same as her wife had, throwing it and impaling it in the wall next to her own knife. When she drags her hands up Emma's thighs the blonde is suddenly glad she has a black tank top under her black sweater because her wife's touch is giving her chills. This might be a dance to disguise a pat down, but she can't remember the last time she's been touched like this. Regina's hands dip inside Emma's jacket and all she finds there is an empty shoulder holster, the gun left under the napkin at the table.

When her hands continue to wander and Emma feels like she can't take anymore and keep a level head she grabs Regina's wrists and pulls her wife's arms up so they can drape over her shoulders where they'd originally started.

"Why is it you think we failed? Because we were leading separate lives? Or was it all the lying that did us in?"

"I have a theory," Emma leans in and rests her forehead against Regina's. "Newly formed."

"I'm breathless to hear it."

"You killed us."

Regina rolls her eyes, "Provocative."

"You approached our marriage like a job. Something to be reconned, planned, and executed."

Regina looks up then, fire in her eyes, "And you avoided it."

"What do you care, if I was just a cover?"

"Well, who said you were just a cover?"

They've stopped moving and are staring deep into each other's eyes, a breath apart.

"Wasn't I?"

"Wasn't _I_?"

When Emma's gaze drops to Regina's lips, then back to her eyes Regina drops her arms from around Emma's neck and pulls away from her.

"Regina..."

"I have to... Excuse me."

Regina turns and bolts for the stairs, wiping at her eyes as she climbs them.

"No exits up there, babe," Emma calls out loudly, sure this is a diversion. Seeing Regina cry pulls at her heartstrings though and she's fighting the urge to chase after her. "Be cold, Emma. She's a liar. Be super cold."

Two women run out of the restroom upstairs and then Emma's worried glance turns into an amused grin when an explosion goes off. She loses sight of Regina in the mayhem of guests and staff pushing their way down the stairs. She finally catches sight of her walking out the door and runs to catch up. She sees no sign of her from the sidewalk but when an old man walking by tells her that she's ticking she feels the weight of an explosive in the inner pocket of her leather jacket. She pulls it out and quickly drops it down a mail slot and walks a few feet away before the mail box explodes.

A car driver rolls down his window as she walks by, "Limo, ma'am?"

She reaches in, grabs him by the back of the neck and slams his head into the steering wheel. He passes out and she opens the door, pulls him out, and steals his ride. Racing onto the interstate she calls Regina's cell phone.

xxx

Regina's phone rings and she pushes the green button on her steering wheel, activating the bluetooth. "Regina Smith."

"That's the second time you've tried to kill me."

"Oh, come on. It was just a little bomb."

"I want you to know I'm going home to burn everything I ever bought you."

"I'll race you there, darling." She pushes the red button on her steering wheel, ending the call. Since Emma is as stubborn as she is, there's no surprise when the phone immediately starts ringing again. "You there yet?"

"First time we met, what was your first thought?"

"You tell me."

"I thought..." Emma struggles to find the words. There's no way she can explain love at first sight. "I thought you looked like Christmas morning. I don't know how else to say it."

"And why are you telling me this now?"

"I guess in the end you start thinking about the beginning. So there it is. I thought you should know." Emma pauses a moment before asking again, "So how about it, Regina? Hmm?"

"I thought..." Regina hits her head on the headrest, struggling to stay detached. _Love is weakness._ "I thought you were the most beautiful mark I'd ever seen."

Emma sighs in defeat, "So it was all business, yeah?"

"All business."

"From the go."

"Cold, hard math."

"Thank you. That's what I needed to know."

CALL DISCONNECTED


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I got a guest review warning me that I hadn't properly tagged characters, so I've fixed the problem and gone back through the previous chapters to review and fix typos. Thanks for the tip anon guest! I've also adjusted the tagging for some of my other fics, please check out my The Heat SQ AU as well. Thanks!**

 **TW: the infamous fight sequence**

Just as Emma started to pull in the driveway to her home Regina pushed down on the gas pedal in the Mercedes and crashed right into the passenger door of the blonde's stolen car.

"Ahh!" Emma yelled with a scowl as Regina backed up, her busted front bumper dragging along the driveway with a loud screech as she sped away, not without further clipping the stolen car in the process of pushing it out of the way to head up the driveway first.

Emma put the car in reverse and tried to back up and follow the same movement forward but the car was badly damaged and the twisted metal was stuck on the curb so it jerked to a stop; one-third in the driveway, one-third in the shrubbery lining the yard, and one-third hanging into the street. She shook the steering wheel with a grunt of frustration and jumped out of the car, running to the front door in a crouched sprint. She turned the door handle, further frustrated realizing it was locked, and heard David call out to her.

"Hey, Emma!"

She jiggled the handle and pushed on the door with her shoulder before tossing a distracted and now furious glance back at her neighbor who was dressed in sweats, out on a jog and sending her a friendly wave in greeting.

"Hey, David."

"Are you all right?"

She ducked down and crept behind the bushes, quickly stealing glances in the windows lining the front of her property, looking for any signs of movement inside. "Yeah."

"Okay..." He let his words drift off, confused by Emma's odd behavior as she now started trying to open every window, all of which were (as usual) locked as well. "Umm, by the way, your car is hanging out over the... sidewalk here."

"Yeah," Emma started jogging around the house, waving the man away. "Thanks, David."

"O-kay. Have a good night."

"'Night," Emma yelled back, already moving out of sight.

She hid behind the hedge as she ran up the driveway and noticed Regina's car parked awkwardly in front of the garage, the driver's door left wide open. She quickly made her way to the storage shed, grabbed a hammer to use as a weapon, and slipped out. A tree in the backyard provided cover when Regina opened the back door and glanced around the yard, shotgun in hand. Once deeming the area clear she moved back inside the house, locking the door behind her.

Emma glared at her wife's retreating form and raced across the yard, awkwardly diving behind another bush and rolling into a dark corner, not without several pained and muffled grumbles of some rather colorful profanities. Scrambling up she kept her back to the fence and made a mad dash for the basement doors, sliding past the patio light like she was coming in to home plate for a home run. The basement was also (as usual) locked, and she shook her head in frustration before noticing the trellis and vines wrapped around this side of the house. Feeling a burst of inspiration she climbed the trellis and came face-to-face with the den and knocked her elbow and forearm through the glass, breaking the window as quietly as possible and unlocked it, slipping in the room undetected.

She left the hammer on the desk in favor of a gun and silencer she was relieved hadn't been uncovered and confiscated during Regina's raid. Holding the gun steady she crept around the dark house listening for movement. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she picked up a picture frame and held it around the corner, trying to use the reflection in the glass to spot Regina. Regina spotted the reflection first though and from her position at the top of the stairs she fired off a shot which blasted a hole in the wall directly over the top of Emma's crouched form. Emma jumped and ducked lower as Regina kept firing a row of shots at the wall she was using for cover.

When the last empty shell casing hit the floor Regina called out in a smug and teasing tone, "You still alive, darling?"

Emma groaned like she'd been hit and dragged her gun around on the ground before leaping up and sticking her hand through one of the holes in the wall Regina had just created and firing back at her wife. The brunette ducked out of the way and rolled down the stairs, returning fire as Emma calmly moved away and reloaded. They met on opposing sides of the long hall and exchanged fire before ducking behind different doorways. Regina took a deep breath and stood up, a shotgun in one hand and an automatic rifle in the other, and did a large sweep of the room. On the other side of the wall, Emma was looking for her as well. The White Knight was a professional killer, but Emma Smith was a clumsy idiot and her elbow knocked against a vase. She scrambled to catch it but mostly just batted it farther away and when the glass hit the floor and shattered she cringed and Regina smirked.

The brunette fired where the glass had hit, assuming that's where Emma was standing as the blonde ran off in the opposite direction, glad that while she hadn't been able to save the vase and her position of cover she was able to throw Regina off long enough to escape. Regina heard the footsteps as Emma ran and turned, firing in that direction. Emma slid on her back into the kitchen, returning fire as Regina ducked out of the way.

She pulled open the door of the refrigerator as Regina's shots resumed, trying to deflect them as she crouched down and crawled behind the island in the middle of the kitchen. She yanked open a drawer and pulled out a butcher knife, hurling it in Regina's direction and impaling it on the wall next to her wife's head.

"Your aim's as bad as your cooking, babe," she yelled out as she pulled a gas line loose. "And that's saying something!"

Regina seethed and reloaded her rifle, then swung around and started firing again, the shots immediately causing an explosion thanks to the open gas line which knocked her down. Emma jumped out of the kitchen, surrounded by flames. She landed a flying kick to Regina's abdomen as the brunette started to stand up, knocking her into the wall behind them. Emma brought her knee up, hitting Regina in the stomach and causing the brunette to double over with a grunt. Just as the blonde swung her arm to bring a heavy elbow to the side of her wife's head Regina side-stepped and ducked, bringing her own elbow cracking against Emma's ribs. She stood and pushed Emma, messily knocking everything off the counter they passed with the blonde's body. Emma started to push up off her knees and shook her head to clear it when Regina swung a lamp, ready to crack it over her head.

The blonde brought her arms up defensively and easily blocked the swing, letting the glass break on her leather covered forearm and grabbed a surprised Regina. She had both hands tightly fisted around the straps of the brunette's dress and used them to yank her from side to side, roughly slamming her body against both sides of the hallway. Regina was dazed when they reached the end of it and Emma took the opportunity to throw her over the dining room table as they approached it, the brunette's body sliding over the tabletop and hitting a chair, knocking it down and landing next to it in a crumpled heap.

Emma strolled around the table, staring at Regina on the floor with a predatory glint in her eye. Charming, clumsy Emma Smith was gone; the White Knight was here to play and she brought out a swagger in the blonde that was all confidence that the target was about to be eliminated.

"Come on, babe," she bounced lightly on her feet, her hands in position to fight. She looked like she did in the ring with August; light on her toes, feet shoulder length apart, front leg stiff and back leg bent with her right heel raised. Her elbows were locked in, fists at the level her mouthguard would normally be, left in front of her defensively and right tucked back ready to swing. This wasn't a game though. It wasn't a friendly training match in the ring. This was a brawl with someone trying to kill her. "Let's see what you got," she couldn't help but try to rile her up, wiggling the fingers that were just tucked into tight fists to motion the brunette over.

Regina groaned and pushed herself up, grabbing the curtain rod from where it had fallen when she had landed roughly and swung it suddenly, catching Emma off-guard and hitting her in the head. She used the fact that Emma was now the dazed one to her advantage, wrapping the curtains around her neck and choking her, then head-butted her and when the blonde started to fall back she raised her foot and kicked Emma in the chest, knocking her back and shattering the china cabinet.

Glass rained down on the blonde as she fell to the ground and Regina smirked, "What do you got?"

Emma groaned and slipped on glass as she scrambled to stand and chase after Regina who ran out of the room. Just as the brunette reached down to grab her shotgun Emma ran in the room and tackled her, sending the gun sliding away across the floor. They landed in a heap and Regina rolled on top of her, straddling the blonde's waist. She grabbed the collar of Emma's sweater with her left hand and used it to yank the blonde up and slam her back against the ground, swinging at her with her right fist. She landed two good punches and on the third swing of her arm Emma caught her with a hand around her bicep and flipped Regina on her back, then pressed her forearm down against the brunette's throat to choke her. Regina's hands shot out, scratching and pushing and then she caught a handful of blonde wavy hair and yanked down, making Emma's head hit the floor beside her own. While Emma's head was down Regina snaked her arm out and wrapped it around the blonde's throat in a chokehold.

Emma momentarily choked but luckily for her that particular move had been August's go-to for submission in the ring and she was skilled at getting out of it (most of the time). She reared back on her knees and stood quickly leaving Regina with no choice but to keep holding on to Emma's neck and wrap her legs around her waist. Emma was still losing air so she jerked around trying to throw Regina off before stumbling and slamming her into the grandfather clock ticking away in the corner of the room, hitting her against it repeatedly until the wood broke and the brunette's body went limp. She dropped Regina and took deep, gulping breaths of air while she ripped her jacket off and tossed it aside, the leather now torn all over anyway. Regina's eyes momentarily crossed after being slammed against yet another hard object and she shook her head, trying to clear her mind and get her wits back.

She grabbed a vase in each hand and quickly smashed them against both sides of Emma's head before the blonde had a chance to move away, then jumped up hoping to knock Emma down but the blonde surprised her and caught her, punching her in the ribs. Regina brought an elbow down hard to Emma's back in response and she crumpled, sending them both falling down to the ground. She landed another good punch but as she went to swing a second time Emma slipped away and jumped up to give the brunette a hard kick with her boot. Regina's ribs ached when she retaliated with a kick of her own, hitting Emma in the chest and knocking the air from the blonde's lungs. They both hunched over then, slightly breathless and definitely hurting, taking a moment to recover before realizing they were just standing there gazing at each other. They snapped to attention and straightened back up into fighting stances before Regina looked to the side and Emma followed her line of sight to Regina's shotgun and Emma's pistol on the ground just out of reach. They looked back at each other, making eye contact before diving for the guns. Regina grabbed Emma's pistol and cocked back the hammer while Emma grabbed Regina's shotgun and pumped a shell into the chamber.

They faced each other with weapons drawn and stared each other down, panting as the seconds ticked by, neither one making the first move.

Regina watched as her wife softened, she could see the determination and cold focus leaving Emma's green eyes. _Love is weakness, Regina._ Her jaw tightened and she glared at Emma, then shook her head trying to convince herself to look past this trap and pull the trigger.

Emma was losing her resolve. This wasn't just a woman trying to kill her, not just a target she needed to eliminate. This was her wife and _fuck_ she still loved her. She lowered the shotgun.

"I can't do it," she admitted quietly.

"Don't!" Regina screamed, shaking her gun in front of her to remind Emma this was life or death and they both needed to make this choice. "Come on!" She begged, teeth tightly clenched, shaking with rage and need. She wasn't sure she could pull the trigger if Emma surrendered. She needed Emma to fight back so she could end this. She needed to make the kill and move on. "Come on!"

Emma merely shrugged, "You want it? It's yours."

She dropped the shotgun to the floor and the tears that had gathered in Regina's eyes began to fall. Her arm remained outstretched, pistol still pointed at Emma as she stared into Regina's brown eyes pouring out all the love she felt from her own green ones. When Regina choked out a sob and closed her eyes Emma advanced. She knocked the pistol from Regina's now loose grip and cupped Regina's face with her hands, pulling her in close for a passionate kiss which the brunette immediately surrendered to.

Emma's hands start to wander, grazing a bare thigh and lifting it to wrap around her waist. When Regina's hips start rocking against Emma's leg the blonde reaches down and squeezes Regina's ass firmly with both hands, giving her the silent message to lift up off both feet and wrap both legs around Emma's midsection. She bites Regina's bottom lip, swallows her moan, and this time when she pushes Regina's back into a wall it's not in a fit of rage but in the heat of passion. Regina gasps and drops her legs after Emma sits her on the broken remains of their entertainment center, then spreads them widely leaving room for Emma to stand between them.

Emma pushes up the bottom of Regina's short dress which was already falling at mid-thigh, intent on bunching it around her wife's hips. When the tight fabric doesn't respond as quickly as she wants it to she simply rips it open at the slit to hurry up the process. Regina leans back against the wall from her sitting position, her palms resting against the edge of the entertainment center as she white-knuckles her grip on it while Emma kisses and sucks at her neck.

When Regina starts tugging on Emma's sweater the blonde raises her arms and lets her wife pull it up and over her head, tossing it aside. She jumps down and drapes her arms around Emma's neck like she had while they had been dancing and tangles her fingers in knotted blonde hair. She tugs at the wavy curls when she kisses Emma deeper and Emma moans in response and pushes her again into another wall. Regina moans and pushes back, then launches forward and rips Emma's tank top off too. Emma lifts Regina's leg to wrap around her waist again and grinds her thigh against the brunette's center. She squeezes Regina's thigh with her left hand while her right tangles her fingers with Regina's and brings them up over her head.

"Couch," Regina pants out in a breathy moan but Emma doesn't think she'll be able to make it that far so she picks Regina up and knocks everything off the nearest available surface, setting Regina on it and pushing her down onto her back with a hand between her breasts. She yanks the ripped dress up around Regina's hips and pulls down lace panties, throwing them over her shoulder before she bends down and spreads Regina's legs open wide, settling between them with a long lick up her wife's wet center. Regina throws her head back and moans, reaching down between her legs to grab a handful of Emma's hair and hold her in place.

It's a blur after that. A lot more kissing, a lot more teeth, a lot more pushing. It's passion and lust and the fire they've both been missing between them that Emma had been so desparate to find again but now it's infinitely better because there's nothing holding them back anymore. When Emma makes Regina cum with her tongue the brunette feels like a weight has been lifted and when Emma's legs shake while Regina's fingers are buried deep within her she feels like she's coming home again. They make each other fall apart and they pull each other back together and neither one ever wants to let go again.

Once the lust-filled haze has dissipated they go from fucking in every room on every available surface to making slow, sensual love. Emma is sitting on the couch and Regina is straddling her. They're both panting and their foreheads are resting together. They share a sweet kiss and Emma hugs Regina close, holding her in an embrace full of caring. Regina opens her eyes and pulls back slightly to look into Emma's and sees how much her wife adores her.

"Hiya stranger."

"Hiya back."

 _ **Later that night...**_

The sound of beeping rouses August from his sleep. He reaches out for the cell phone on his night stand, cracking one eye to review the new alert from Gold's Guild.

 **REGINA MILLS A.K.A. REGINA SMITH A.K.A. THE EVIL QUEEN**

 **$500,000.00**

"Tempting," he yawns and places the phone back down, muttering to himself. "But I don't get out of bed for less than a million dollars."

His phone beeps again with another new alert.

 **EMMA SWAN A.K.A. EMMA SMITH A.K.A. THE WHITE KNIGHT**

 **$500,000.00**

"Fuck."


	5. Chapter 5

_**The next morning...**_

They're moving around the broken remains of their kitchen trying to find something for breakfast, working in complete harmony, more in sync and in love than they can ever remember. They had woken up on the couch and Emma had suggested a shower together and a game of 20 Questions to get to know each other better now their covers are blown. It's slowly dissolved into something more like open curiosity with playful teasing and a lot of flirting.

"That left of yours," Emma laughs with a wince. "A thing of beauty."

Regina smirks, "You take it well."

"Thank you."

"That vacation in Aspen? You left early. Why."

"The Mad Hatter."

"Oh, god!" Regina chuckles, "I wanted that hit. We have history."

"What kind of history," Emma looks up from her cereal and he tone is 100% jealous.

"Nothing like that," Regina assures her while lightly scratching her back affectionately.

Emma nods in relief and wonders about a night several years before, "You didn't hear me that night the chopper dropped me off for our anniversary?"

"No," Regina remembers the night instantly. "Percussion grenades. I was partially deaf that night."

"I'm slightly color blind," Emma admits with a shrug. "Retinal scarring."

"That would explain your terrible sense of fashion," Regina teases and kisses away the frown Emma immediately sports. They go through a list of injuries they've suffered in the past and the events leading up to them before Regina thinks of another question. "You ever have trouble sleeping after?"

"Nope."

"Yeah, me neither."

Just then, a smoke bomb is thrown through the window. They scramble away, glad they were already awake and dressed. Emma is back in her usual blue jeans and today she has a white sweater thrown over her tank top. Regina probably isn't in the best attire for evading hit men though. She's wearing another short, tight black dress (because she liked the effect it had on Emma last night) and black knee-high boots with a ridiculously high heel. Emma knocks down the coat rack and grabs her brown leather jacket, slipping it on and handing Regina the dark red blazer she'd left out. They duck down below the red lasers shining through the windows, sights for the snipers waiting to take a shot, and start throwing hand signals at each other. Emma realizes how ridiculous they look arguing silently and finally just rushes across the floor, dragging Regina with her down the stairs to the basment.

"I was given 48 hours to take you out," she says, digging in a box with a model train set.

"Same."

"Jesus," she huffs, pulling out two guns and handing one to Regina. "Where's the trust?"

"What did you expect?" Regina starts to calmly explain before frowning at the weapon in her hand. "Why do I get the small gun?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"No." Emma sighs and rolls her eyes but trades with her wife anyway. The door to the basement is opened just wide enough for a bomb to be dropped down. It rolls down the stairs and lands at Emma's feet. She kicks it across the room and it lands next to a propane tank she was supposed to have replaced with the empty one on the grill outside a week earlier. She cringes and glances at Regina who knows with that simple look that that propane tank is the full one and they need to run. They take off, pushing open the doors to the back yard that Emma had tried to break in through the night before, just as an explosion shakes the house. They burst out the doors, turning to fire at the snipers on the roof and hit men on the ground when another explosion destroys their entire home. They get knocked down by the blast and help each other stand in the ash and rubble, the only two remaining. "We need a car," Regina says remembering she'd smashed in her front bumper hitting Emma the night before. The stolen car is still broken and blocking the majority of the driveway making it impossible for Emma to drive the Bug out of the storage shed or use the BMW to escape.

"Nolans," Emma offers immediately and the pair run off towards their neighbor's garage. She picks up a rock and throws it through the glass window, then opens the side door to the garage and climbs in the van parked inside, leaning down to hotwire it. "The guy's had my barbecue set for months. I blame him for that explosion. If I had been able to grill that full tank wouldn't have been in the basement."

Regina ignores her grumbling and climbs into the passenger seat, moving the topic back to the game they were playing in the kitchen. "I was never in the Peace Corps."

"What?" Emma looks up surprised, connecting the last two wires and starting the engine. "I really liked that about you."

"Maybe this honesty thing isn't such a good idea."

"I didn't go to MIT."

"Really?"

"Notre Dame. Art History major."

Regina laughs in shock, "Art?"

"History," Emma huffs. "It's reputable."

"Okay," Regina chuckles and pushes the button to open the Nolan's garage door.

When Emma sees a man in all black lurking behind her with a gun in his hand she stomps on the gas, hitting him. She quickly switches gears from reverse to park and jumps out of the car, kicks the already stunned man, grabs his gun, jumps back in, and finishes backing down the driveway, running him over on her way out.

"Fuckers get younger every year."

xxx

They're driving on the interstate with the radio on low in the background, listening to Air Supply's 'Making Love Out Of Nothing At All'.

"I gotta tell you, I never really liked your cooking. It's not your gift."

"My dear, I've never cooked a day in my life. i-Temp girls cooked."

Emma's mouth drops open, "Web of lies!" She narrows her eyes and shakes her head, then smiles with an amused smirk on her face while she starts humming along to the music. "And I don't know how you do it," she sings off-key, bobbing her head. "Making love out of nothing at all. Making love..." She notices Regina side-eyeing her and chuckles, "I like it. Deal with it." Just then, three matching Audis pull into focus in her rear view mirror. "We got company."

"What?" Regina swivels quickly in her seat, looking out the back window. "Shit." She climbs in the back seat and pulls it down but falls to the floor when Emma yanks roughly on the steering wheel. "Emma, hold steady now!"

"It's called evasive driving, babe."

"Hold still!"

She reaches up and pushes the button opening the van's trunk. A golf bag, stroller, dry cleaned clothes, and other miscellaneous crap comes falling out all over the road behind them making one of the cars swerve wildly. They're under heavy fire and Emma is jerking the car all over the road making Regina fly all over the back seat and the blonde has the nerve to gripe from her position behind the driver's seat.

"This thing's all over the place. How do you drive these things anyway? The transmission's terrible."

Regina reaches up and pushes the button again, this time closing the trunk.

"Darling," she pants out after her tumble in the backseat. "Let me drive."

"I got it," Emma stubbornly refuses.

"Move over. Move!" When Emma doesn't budge Regina starts to push her shoulder, "I'm the suburban housewife, dear. You move."

"Fine," she pouts, quickly trading places with Regina and only momentarily losing speed before her wife gets situated behind the wheel. She lies down on the floor between the drivers seat and the middle row and opens the door, leaning out of the speeding van and shooting at the car behind them.

"They're bulletproof!" Regina yells, having already tried that approach.

Emma fires off a couple more shots before pulling herself back in the van and closing the door, "They're bulletproof!" Regina just rolls her eyes as Emma opens the door for the trunk again and shoots at the car that just rear-ended them. After exchanging fire with the men behind them the blonde ducks behind the middle row of seats to reload her gun. "Hey, babe. I should probably tell you... I have a kid."

"WHAT?"

Regina slams on the breaks and the car that had just rear-ended them does so again, so hard this time that Emma's sent flying into the front seat, close enough that Regina can immediately start slapping and punching her arm and leg with her free hand while trying to focus on driving with the other.

"Are you out of your mind? What's wrong with you?" Emma yelps, holding her hands out to try and defend herself.

" _You're_ what's wrong with me," Regina replies, still slapping.

"I was young. He lives with his dad. I don't have any contact, I just get a picture emailed to me once a year on his birthday."

"That's better. That's much better. Great," Regina snarks and continues to punch Emma as she climbs back into the back seat.

"Stop it!" Emma yells, holding up a golf club. She stands in the open trunk, balancing with one foot on the back bumper of the van and one foot on the hood of the car chasing them. One of the hitters pops up out of the other car's moonroof, gun aimed at her and she swings the club, hitting him in the head. When she notices a grenade hooked to the utility strap running across his chest she pulls the pin and dives back in the van, "Go, go, go!"

The other car explodes and apparently so has Regina. "What's the father's name and social security number?"

"No," Emma brushes off the question. "You're not gonna kill him."

"So you have a son?"

"His name is Henry." Two of the cars that have been following them pull along side the van and hit the passenger doors, sandwiching them in a loud crunch. "Here's the thing... I had an affair with my handler when I was first approached to join the Guild. I was 18 and when I found out I was pregnant I was beyond scared to lose the life I was just starting to think of as permanent. For a foster kid like me, a permanent home is a big deal. He asked me to wait to complete training until I had the baby because he'd already been planning on going AWOL and said he'd take care of the kid when he ran off. I wasn't in any position to be a mother and I agreed." Regina swerves suddenly, pushing the car on her left into the median and driving into oncoming traffic. The last car left following them approaches again on the driver's side with a man hanging off the open passenger's window. She pushes the button to open the passenger doors and when he leaps through Emma leans back and he falls all the way out. "These doors _are_ handy." Regina has fallen silent and Emma glances up at her from the back seat, "You know, you're being a bit hypocritical. It's not like you're some beacon of truth."

Regina frowns, knowing this is true but there's a whole lot of pain floating around right now for a whole lot of reasons. She rolls her eyes and gives in. "My father was also named Henry. I wasn't lying when I said he died but it wasn't just from a heart attack. I'm fairly certain my mother killed him. She's the Queen of Hearts."

"WHAT?"

Regina had told her earlier that morning that she was the Evil Queen and that she worked as a member of the Queen of Hearts Royal Guard but she failed to mention that her boss was her mother. The car is getting closer and Regina is losing her patience while Emma fires off shots not doing any effective damage.

"You got it?"

"Got it."

"Any time."

"I said I got it!" Regina frowns at her tone and when the blonde pauses to reload her gun her wife decides to just end this fucking thing already. She stomps on the breaks and yanks on the steering wheel. The van makes a skidding stop, changing directions suddenly, and faces the car that had been pursuing them. She holds a gun out the driver's window and calmly shoots the gas tank of the Audi and sends it up in a flaming explosion. Satisfied the issue has been dealt with, Regina drives away from the scene while Emma climbs back into the passenger's seat. When she fixes Regina with an expectant stare the brunette merely rolls her eyes. "We're gonna have to redo every conversation we've ever had," she says solemnly, turning off the radio.

xxx

"This is disgusting," August pushes his plate back, bitching at a waittress who passes him. He's sitting at a table at the same diner where he had breakfast with Emma the day after her botched mission. "How could you serve this? Ma'am, is it possible to get this reheated? Miss? Miss, I'm talking to you. Excuse me?" He sighs and turns around, coming face-to-face with Emma who's taken the seat across from him. He jumps a little, startled. "Jesus, Em."

"Good morning, August."

"Morning," he laughs, amazed to see her. "It's good to see you're okay. Please tell me you got smart and killed that lying bitch."

"This lying bitch?" Regina asks with a smirk, perched on a barstool at the counter next to his table.

"Guess it was just wishful thinking," August chuckles nervously.

"August."

"I'm sorry. Nice to see you, Regina," he adds sarcastically and scowls in her direction.

"August. Focus, please." The blonde points between herself and Regina. "We got problems."

"Problems?" August laughs mirthlessly. "Crack addicts got problems, Em. You two are smoked."

"Maybe."

"Maybe? You've got the entire agency gunning for you. Probably her agency, too."

"And what about you? Where you at?"

"Me?" August's eyebrows shoot up. "Where am I at? I find myself dragging my feet this morning. I think you owe me a little money anyway," he adds with a wink. "So what do you..." His focus shifts back to Regina when Emma looks over at her and nods that everything is okay. The brunette has only uttered one sentence this entire conversation and has spent the remainder of it silently glaring at him. "We don't understand each other, I get that. But I don't need these looks from you, okay? I've been in her life a long time."

"Focus, August." Emma balls up his napkin and throws it at him, "Here's the thing, I'm pissed off. They blew up my house, they shot at my wife. My own company."

"Well, if she works for who the street says she works for..." he shrugs, "You're Macy's and Gimbel's. She would be XBox and you would be PlayStation. Know what I'm saying? You following me? The point is simple. Once you guys decide to get off the reservation, that's it. Then you're off the reservation."

"How bad is it?"

August leans back in his seat and sighs, "You remember Canada. That's kid's stuff next to this."

Regina's eyes widen in surprise, "That was you?"

"Oh, is that a turn-on?" August asks mockingly, then lowers his voice back at Emma. "Didn't she try to kill you with a car?" When Emma glares he raises his hands in defeat, "Fine, none of my business. But these are the facts. If you two separate from each other, you've got a shot. Not a great shot, Em, but a shot. You two stay together, you're dead. Unless you can find something they want more than they want you."

Emma looks back to Regina then, "What do you think? I'm not going to stop trying, even if you still want to kill me."

The brunette rolls her eyes, and drawls like it's taking every ounce of energy she has in her to admit it, "I don't _want_ to kill you."

"See?" Emma grins, "That's a start."

"You said you think of this life as permanent. That you gave up your son because you loved the lifestyle too much to say goodbye. Where do you stand now?"

"With you. I've got your back."

 _ **Later that night...**_

They decide to go with August's last suggestion and find the something (someone) their firms want more than them. Regina asks Kathryn for help gathering intel and within hours she calls back to direct them to sub-basement D of the federal courthouse where Hook is being held. They're in a surveillance van outside and Regina is behind the wheel with a laptop in the passenger seat looking over blueprints of the building while Emma is in the back getting armed.

"30 second window. I cut the power, you grab the target. Simple and clean. Got it?"

"Got it," Emma nods, half listening while she loads her gun. "Tell me, how many?"

Regina rolls her eyes. They had been talking about previous assignments and their number of hits and she had changed the subject, trying to get Emma to focus on the task at hand before she went swarming into a heavily guarded building. "Does it matter?"

"Should I go first?" Emma drawled sarcastically.

"Okay."

"I don't exactly keep count, but I would say... high 50's." She shrugged, still trying to estimate the figures in her mind. "Low 60's? I've been around the block, but the important thing is..."

"312."

Emma's neck snapped as she whipped around to face Regina, "312? How?"

"Some were two at a time." Emma looked down, her mouth hanging wide open. "Darling-"

"I'm..." the blonde waved her off. "...I'm..." She let her words drift out and busied her hands with a camera and earpiece headset she could use to talk to Regina and transmit what she was seeing back to the laptop in the van once she got inside. "Are you counting innocent bystanders?" Regina glared in response and Emma dropped the subject for the time being. She crept out of the van and climbed down a manhole cover. She paused halfway down the stairs that led from the manhole cover to the sewer below and hammered through the wall, breaking into the drainage line under the courthouse. "You monitoring the perimeter?"

"I checked the perimeter."

"What about the police bands?"

"I'm on the police bands."

"Connected-"

"This is not my first time."

"Think we've established that."

"All right." Regina chuckled at Emma's tone, "Turn left." She watched the image projected to her from Emma's headset, frowning when she saw Emma turn right. " _Left,_ Emma. Left!"

Emma pulled the headset off and pointed the camera at her face, scowling. "You don't need to talk to me like that. Okay? Be nice."

"Left, _please_."

"I can't go left," she holds the camera up to the dead-end she's facing to her left, slapping the closed off wall. "See? There is no left. Look. I have straight," she swings the camera around, showing Regina her surroundings, "or back the way I came. There's no left. What do you want?"

"Just stay there and wait for my mark."

"See what I'm sitting in? You see that? Take your time."

"Yeah, all right! Just stay. Stay there, wait for my mark. I'll find it." She's clicking furiously at her keyboard, squinting at the revisions on the blueprints and trying to find another option when she notices Emma's movements. "Wait for my mark. Almost there. I don't know what happened, just hold on." Emma isn't listening and has backed up and found an entrance through another drain down the pipeline. "Emma, what are you doing?" The camera from her headset shows her peeking through a storm drain. "What are you doing?"

"Cut the lights on my signal," Emma whispers back. "Now." She crawls out of the storm drain and walks into the room, gun drawn and the lights still on. "Kill the lights." Regina is halfway through overriding the power grid, not prepared for Emma's sudden orders. "Regina, kill the lights." She walks around a corner and two armed men notice her and start yelling, all of them now shooting at each other. "Kill the lights now!" The lights cut out and the room is completely dark. Gun shots are ringing out and Emma can't see who to shoot at anymore. "Turn 'em back on. Turn 'em back on! Turn 'em back on!"

Regina huffs, frazzled. "All right! Shut up. Shut up!"

xxx

Regina glares at Emma as she pushes Killian Jones into the back of the surveillance van. "You didn't wait for my signal."

Emma shrugs carelessly, "I improvised."

"You deviated from the plan."

"Plan was flawed."

"The plan was not flawed."

"Anal."

"Organized."

"Regina," Emma sighs as they start to drive away. "90% of this job is instinct."

"Your instincts set off the alarms."

"My instincts got the job done. It might not have been the Regina Show-"

"No, it was the Emma Show. It was half-assed. Like Christmas, our anniversary, the time you forgot to bring my mother's birthday present. You are always the first to break team."

"You don't want a team," Emma scoffs. "You want a servant for hire."

"I want someone I can count on."

"Babe, there's no air around you anymore."

"Oh, okay. What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It means there's no room for mistakes, no mistakes whatsoever. No spontaneity. Who can answer to that?"

"Well, you don't have to because this isn't even a real marriage."

The couple sits in silence for a moment before Killian Jones croaks out, "Who the bloody hell are you people?"

"Shut up!" they yell back in unison.

xxx

They rent a motel room and sneak Hook in, tying him to a chair before they start questioning him.

"Now I realize you witnessed the missus and I working through some domestic issues," Emma drawls, pointing between herself where she's sitting in another chair in front of Killian and back to Regina who's sitting on the bed. "That's regrettable. But don't take that as a sign of weakness. That would be a mistake on your part. Now, tell us what you know. Why do both our bosses want you dead? You underst-" she looses her train of thought when Regina starts impatiently drumming her fingers on the nightstand. "Babe. Please?"

"Wrap it up."

"Maybe it's not a good idea to undermine me in front of the hostage. Sends a mixed message."

"Sorry," she drops her hand but doesn't sound sorry at all.

"Okay. Where was I?"

"A mistake on your part," Killian reminds her with a smirk.

"Shut up." She leans close to emphasize her next point, "Options. I'm gonna lay out your options for you, okay? Option A. You talk, we listen, no pain. Option B. You don't talk. I remove your thumbs with my pliers. It will hurt. Option C. Here's the thing... I like to vary the details a bit, but the punch line is, you die." When he sits quietly refusing to respond, Emma sighs. "Killian. We're impatient people, Killian."

"Can I get a drink, love? You don't happen to have any rum, do you?" Regina quickly stands up, yanks the phone on the nightstand from the wall, and hits Hook in the face with it. "A, Option A!" he yells. "Ow, that hurt!"

"Okay," Emma chuckles at a smirking Regina. "That was a nice shot." She focuses back on Hook who jerks his head down. "What's... You got a spasm?"

"I'm tied up," he rolls his eyes and motions down again. "Why don't you check my back pocket?" Regina pushes his head to the side and reaches into his back pocket, pulling out a folded photograph. The edges are worn and it's in black and white but it's definitely a picture of Regina and Emma. "I'm not the target. You are. Both of you. They found out you're married, so they teamed up and sent you to the same hit. It was a joint task force, both companies. Two competing agents living under the same roof? It's bad for business. They wanted you to take each other out."

"You were bait," Regina realizes.

"Well, they both wanted me dead. I offered myself as bait instead hoping you two would kill each other and not me."

Regina ignores him and moves the curtains aside, "You were bait or you are bait?"

Hook immediately closes his mouth and Emma jumps up ready to hit him again, making him flinch. "Belt! Belt, belt, love."

Emma pulls his belt off and pushes a clasp on the side of the metal buckling face causing it to snap open and reveal a GPS tracker and audio recording device inside. "Two minutes."

Lights from a helicopter shine on Regina's face and she drops the curtains back into place, "One minute."

They jump out the bathroom window and make a quick escape before three vans full of armed agents swarm the property. They kick the door in and the helicopter circles overhead but no one notices them hiding beneath a storm drain.

"My way out is a boat standing by in La Paz."

"Cargo drop, Atlas Mountains," Emma huffs. "So what?"

"So at least apart we know what the odds are. Let's just call this what it is. And what it isn't."

"All right, so it's a crap marriage. I'm a mess and you're a disaster. We're both liars." She turns her head to look in Regina's eyes, "But you run, you'll always be running. I say we stay and fight. We finish this thing. Then if you want to go, you can go."

They fidget in strained silence, shuffling against each other before Regina finally speaks. "Well, thank you."

"What? 'Let's call this what it is.' Jesus Christ."


	6. Chapter 6

"I need to get out of this dress."

Regina says it innocently and factually enough but Emma still turns to her with a dimpled smirk, "Now we're talkin'."

The brunette rolls her eyes and affectionately calls her an idiot in response before they start crawling from their position beneath the storm drain to their waiting surveillance van Regina had the foresight to park several miles away from the motel. Once inside she quickly strips off her dress and grabs a change of clothes while Emma starts arming weapons for them.

When the blonde looks up she sees her wife in tight black jeans and knee-high boots, the heel giving her the height to stand at eye-level with her spouse, with a black camisole in hand ready to pull over her head. Emma is so busy staring at Regina's lean torso, which is naked other than the black lace bra she's rocking, that she doesn't notice her wife's lips turn up in a smug grin. Regina reaches out and strokes Emma's bottom lip with the pad of her thumb, then traces down her jaw, and the blonde shivers. With two fingers under Emma's chin she clicks the blonde's teeth together, closing her mouth.

"Stop making eyes at me and focus," she playfully admonishes her.

"I don't make eyes," Emma stubbornly insists while shaking her head to clear her thoughts. When Regina selects a plum colored silk blouse Emma rolls her eyes. "Put this on," she orders her wife, handing her a bulletproof vest because even if Regina still insists on being fashionable in the most ridiculous circumstances she's still going to be safe. Emma yanks off her sweater and puts on a bulletproof vest of her own over her tank top, watching Regina button her shirt closed. The brunette pulls on a royal blue blazer over her plum blouse while Emma zips up a black leather jacket over her vest and pulls the hood up over her head. "Ready?" Regina nods in response and takes the guns Emma hands her. They climb out of the van and, despite the helicopter still circling overhead and gunman on the ground still conducting a search, silently stalk across the street to a closed Kost Mart and slip inside undetected. "This is a really good store," Emma whispers to her wife as they do a sweep of the building.

" _Focus_ ," Regina hisses back quietly with narrowed eyes. The sound of a door opening and closing in the distance alerts them to the presence of the team of hitmen entering through the same side door they had accessed. The men outside had stumbled upon the broken entryway Emma had used a crowbar to pry open and break in through.

"See you in the next life, Regina."

"Likewise, Emma."

They stand and start making their way to the sound of footfalls, back to back. Emma stops moving and pulls Regina behind a clothing display, holding a finger to her lips to motion for the brunette to stay quiet. One of the hitters walks by and Emma reaches out quickly, hitting him in the head with the butt of her gun. He instantly drops, out cold, and the pair scramble to catch him and lower him to the ground quietly. Regina removes his rifle and pulls the strap over her shoulder before following after Emma. She covers the blonde who silently approaches two more armed men.

Emma tucks her gun into the waistband of her jeans in favor of a pair of large wrenches hanging from a plumbing display. She swings the large metal tools, the size of baseball bats, hitting the two men and knocking them out as well. Her wild swinging knocks over a floodlamp though and before it can fall to the ground with a loud clatter she bounces on one foot to catch the light in midair with the other and slowly lowers it to the ground. Straightening back up she bounces on her feet again and swings the wrenches around in her hand with a goofy lopsided grin that makes Regina smile and want to laugh.

They disarm the two men and slide behind a kitchen display, crouching low and listening to the quickly approaching footsteps of four more men. Regina looks to her left and notices a rolling cart with knife blocks on top and motions with her head to Emma before removing the rifle from around her back and rolling up the sleeves of her blazer. With another nod to Emma the two move silently and Regina rolls the cart into position. When one man comes into view she throws a knife, hitting him in the chest and killing him. Emma spots one more and hits him in the head with the butt of her gun, knocking him out cold. She spots the last two armed men as they start to approach Regina and raises her gun to stop their movements while the brunette lets more knives fly. She hits the two armed men in the chest and unfortunately for Emma a third knife impales the blonde in the thigh. She grits her teeth and looks up at Regina with a scowl.

"Sorry," Regina whispers with a shrug and Emma glares back at her.

"We'll talk about this later," she grits out before pulling the blade from her flesh.

As they walk down another aisle listening for more men Emma gets distracted by the sight of Regina's ass in the tight black jeans in front of her and swings a little too wide on a sweep to the right, knocking all the canned food off a shelf with the barrel of her rifle.

" _Jesus!_ " Regina hisses and Emma wonders if her wife has always been this skilled at yelling at her in a whisper.

"I didn't touch a thing."

"Yes, you did," Regina snaps and when the gunshots start ringing out over their heads she wonders if it would be too immature to gloat about being right. They sprint down the aisle, heads ducked low and return fire before sliding into an open elevator. The pair stands side by side in comfortable silence, weapons armed and ready, and when the doors open to the next floor they immediately start firing. The number of hitmen is surprising and when more crash through the glass ceiling overhead they step back onto the elevator and the closing doors catch the bullets aimed for their bodies. "Sorry about the knife in the-"

"I don't want to talk about it," the blonde cuts her off and Regina rolls her eyes.

The brunette gives in and lets the subject drop for now when the elevator doors open back up, "I'll fly."

"I'll be bait," Emma says with a nod before moving into position. "I'm going clockwise, watch my six."

Regina climbs up onto the rafters and lays her body across one of the metal beams, attaching a sniper scope to her rifle while Emma wanders around on the floor below killing everything in her path. The gunshots draw the attention of the other gunmen and when they move to advance on Emma, Regina fires from above. After several of their comrades drop to the floor though the team notices the brunette in the rafters above and turn their fire on her. They're too far away to hit her with any accuracy but the swarm of shots is overwhelming and Regina stumbles back. Emma looks up when she notices the heat has been taken off her and sees Regina fall.

She gasps and runs towards her wife, shooting over her shoulder to hold off fire. Crouching down she pulls Regina up and pulls her arm to drape over her shoulder so she can support the brunette's weight and help her up from where she'd been trying to crawl away. Regina hadn't taken a serious hit but the fall had dazed her and she had limped away on a sore knee before falling and trying to crawl to safety. They scramble to a tool shed, firing as they go, and collapse inside. When Emma sits up and snaps the door closed Regina sees the blood in blonde hair and starts to panic.

"Oh my god," she snaps to attention at Emma's side, gently brushing the hair back from her temple. "Are you okay?"

Regina's fingers are sticky, smeared with Emma's blood, but the blonde is quick to assure her, "I'll be fine. They only grazed me." Noticing the blood running down Regina's forearm and dripping off the end of her fingertips her eyes widen and she pushes Regina's other hand away from where it's still brushing against her temple to examine her wife instead. "What about you? Are you okay?"

Regina brushes the blood down her arm and flicks it off her fingertips, "Nicked my arm in the rainstorm of bullets." Emma finds a cloth and rips it, then ties the material around Regina's bicep and winces when she makes her wife hiss in pain. The gunshots have stopped and the store is quiet so while Emma reloads their weapons Regina peeks through one of the bullet holes in the wall of the shed and sees the gunmen positioning themselves outside, getting prepared to fire on them and take them out for good.

"How's it look?"

"Piece of cake."

Emma recognizes Regina putting on a brave face for her benefit but she doesn't question it, she simply tries to arm her more so if she's taken out her wife still has a good chance to escape and survive. She loops tethers for two handgun-style, magazine-fed, self-loading machine pistols capable of fully automatic burst firing crisscross around Regina's shoulders. She knows Regina knows how to handle them but she can't help but precaution her, "Watch these, they tend to jam." She picks up a rifle and hands it to Regina before taking one for herself, "You favor your left, babe, so I'll cover your right." Regina locks eyes with her then and they both know this might be it. Emma can't help but feel guilty, "Damn, that boat in La Paz is looking pretty good right now, isn't it?"

"Well, it rains a lot this time of year," Regina teases her with a smirk. When Emma's lips turn up in the shy smile that makes the brunette's heart warm and flutter she finds the strength to admit, "There's nowhere I'd rather be than right here, with you." Emma's little smile breaks out into a full blown grin and Regina gives her a quick peck, "Shut up."

They stand and take deep breaths, turning to nod at each other before kicking the door open and immediately firing off shots. They fight back to back and when Emma swings around Regina ducks and presses her front to Emma's, holding her arms on either side of the blonde's body and they form a perfect circle, firing off shots in a complete 360 degree formation. One of the hitters is in the rafters now and when he fires a grenade from a rocket launcher Emma takes a knee and with a hand on Regina's bulletproof vest tugs her wife down to crouch beside her, evading the shot which hits the tool shed behind them instead.

They both drop their now empty rifles, grab handguns, and stand face to face firing off shots. With a nod Emma directs Regina to turn and they move back to back to fire some more before Emma leads her with a stiffened arm to swivel and continue firing from a different angle. They're moving in perfect harmony, reading each other's movements and the situation around them, taking perfect shots and eliminating the enemy at an alarming pace. When another grenade is fired from the rocket launcher Emma once again pushes Regina down but this time pulls the trigger of the shotgun strapped to her wife's back while she's bent over and hits the armed man firing the shots in the rafters up above. The brunette stands and throws her wife a new mag which she catches and loads in one fluid movement while Regina shoots the last remaining targets approaching them from the left.

Pausing to catch their breath they remain in position to fire and listen for any other hostiles. The room around them is completely quiet and just as they begin to think they might have won they hear the sound of heavy boots stepping on glass. They move to stand side by side to face the unknown danger together and a man walks out of the smoke.

"Oi, oi," Hook holds his hands out to stop them from firing when they both point their weapons at him. "That's enough of that, loves. Your bosses wanted me to fetch you. Seems they're willing to make a deal."

xxx

Hook leads them into a conference room and finally pulls the blindfolds off. Seated at a conference table in front of them are the Dark One and the Queen of Hearts. Cora motions to the chairs positioned on the other side of the table, "Take a seat."

Regina glares at her mother before rigidly taking one of the offered seats. The woman set her up with every intention of having her killed and now has the nerve to act like they're simply having a business meeting. Emma still stands stubbornly behind her wife and only moves to drop down beside her when Regina looks up to her, her eyes conveying the need for a united front.

Gold peers at them over the cup of tea he's pouring for himself, "What can we do for you?"

"No games. You _summoned_ us," the brunette seethes. "What you can do is tell us what you want."

"I'm sorry, you're going to have to be more specific."

"You know damn well what she's talking about," Emma drawls. "What the hell do you want with us? You two sold us out. You sent us to the same hit, which was a fake. It was just a fucking set up. You tried to get us to kill each other and when that didn't work you sent our own agencies after us."

"Well, that is quite a litany of grievances, isn't it?"

"Maybe I don't need answers," Emma snaps back at him, leaning forward menacingly. "Maybe I just need to punch you in the face."

"Enough of this," Cora snaps. "We brought you here to make a deal."

Regina fixes her with a skeptical scowl, "Why would we ever believe that?"

"Because I never go back on my deals," Gold answers for the both of them.

Regina turns her attention to her mother, "And what's in it for you?"

Cora smiles at her, but it's not the warm smile of a mother to her daughter, it's the cold and calculating smile of the Queen of Hearts. "I'm taking over Gold's Guild. The Dark One is..." she smirks, "...retiring. I need to merge the Guild and the Royal Guard and you've just killed a large portion of my new staff. We're proposing a truce. You can have your life back, your life together."

"We get peace?" Regina questions skeptically. "It's all over, just like that?"

"Actually," Gold points at Emma, "that's where you come in Mrs. Smith. Or should I say, Miss Swan? I'm selling Cora the Guild because I miss my son. He left me because of the nature of our business, couldn't stomach all the death. I'm hoping leaving it behind will prove to him just how much he means to me."

"That's a heartwarming story," Emma drawls, "but what does it have to do with me?"

"I believe you know Baelfire-"

"Baelfire?" Emma gulps and Regina watches the color drain from her wife's face as she goes pale. _It's not possible. Baelfire can't be..._

"-and I believe you are the key to getting Baelfire home."

"Baelfire is..." Emma's mind is racing and her heart is pounding. "He's your son?"

"I don't suppose he mentioned that during your time together," Gold nods like that information isn't surprising to him and slides a folder across the table to them. Regina opens it up and sees dozens of pictures of a man she doesn't recognize and the puzzle doesn't fit together on his connection to her wife until she flips past the pictures to a birth certificate.

 **MOTHER: EMMA SWAN**

 **FATHER: NEAL CASSIDY**

"I brought that to his attention," Cora informs them, nodding to the birth certificate as Regina wordlessly passes it to Emma. "I made him a deal. I could supply him with the one person who could still find his son in exchange for his firm. It would make sense to give it up before going after Baelfire anyway, there's no way he would return to this life he's run from for so long."

"How do you know I'll be able to find Neal? I haven't heard from him in years."

"But that's not entirely true, is it? You share a son. There must be a way to stay in contact to check on the boy."

Emma's head snaps up from the birth certificate she's still got in her hands, "We don't share him. I get a photo emailed to me once a year, that's it. I can't help you."

"Unless you want us to kill you and your wife then you _can_ and you _will_ help me find him, dearie."

"After all," Cora smirks, "we're all one big family now."

"So," Gold claps his hands together with a big smile on his face, "she gets the Guild, I get my son, and you two get each other. Do we have a deal?"


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: I know this ending will be going a different route from the movie, a sappier route playing up the ROM aspect of the rom-com action movie we've experienced thus far. I appreciate the subscriptions and reviews. Please check out my other works, including my personal favorite, The Heat SQ AU. Let me know if there's an epilogue you'd like worked out here, or maybe an alternate ending.**

"So," Gold claps his hands together with a big smile on his face, "she gets the Guild, I get my son, and you two get each other. Do we have a deal?"

Emma and Regina shared a look before the brunette pursed her lips and gave her wife a terse nod. Turning back to the Queen of Hearts and the Dark One she took a deep breath, "No. No deal. Kill her."

Hook had been standing behind them, watching Emma and Regina like a guard would his prisoners, and his presence had been ignored up until now. At Regina's words he pulled a gun out from under his coat and fired two quick shots, killing Cora instantly. The Queen of Heart's body slumped from her seat, where she'd been perched like it was a throne, to the floor and the Dark One's eyes widened in shock.

"Regina, dearie, I-"

"Save it," Regina cut him off. "That woman was my mother and she still joined forces with you against us. She plotted to have her own daughter killed," she spat out, "but that's not exactly a new M.O. for her, is it?" At Gold's surprised look she sneered, "Yes, I know all about Zelena. During my first year with the Royal Guard my mother sent me on a hit and luckily the target told me who she was before I could kill her. I pretended as though I had never found the target-my own sister. She faked her death, with some help from my father, which I assume is why my mother killed him. She's alive and well, if you were wondering, and should be here any moment. In the meantime, Mr. Jones met the conditions of his deal with you by bringing us here. He is no longer in your debt and you will excuse him."

Gold looked over at him and nodded silently.

"Thank you, your majesty," Hook told Regina with a little dip of his head. Emma thought if he was any dumber he might have tried an actual bow and she wasn't sure whether or not her wife would have let him leave alive at that point. She looked over at the brunette and could see the vein pulsing in her forehead and knuckles white, gripping the arms of her chair firmly.

On their way from the bullet-ridden Kost Mart where Hook had found them to Gold's offices where he blindfolded them to act as though they weren't about to ambush the very people he had promised to help, they had devised their plan and Regina had quickly explained that she'd gotten in contact with Zelena and asked for her help.

"So why am I still alive then, dearies? You've thrown quite the coup here today, wouldn't have been terribly hard to have that imbecile fire a couple more shots and finish me like you've finished her."

"My mother tried to kill me, she tried to kill my wife, she tried to kill my sister. She made me a monster and I will _not_ give her the opportunity to do the same to the boy. You can tell us all day long that you love Baelfire but this deal you struck with my mother wasn't some selfless act to get your son back, it benefitted you to do so, like all your deals. I don't trust you any more than I trusted her-"

" _I_ never tried to kill my own offspring."

"That we know of," Regina glared at him, unmoved by his interjection. "The only reason you're still alive is because we need you."

Regina was practically vibrating with tension and seething with rage by now so Emma reached over and placed her hand over her wife's. Slowly the shaking stopped, her grip on the armrest loosened, and the brunette seemed to calm.

Not wanting to risk another blow up Emma took over, "I'm going to contact Neal. If he does get back to me and does decide to meet, I will ask him if he wants to speak to you. I'm not going to force him into a relationship with you." When Gold huffed, Emma glared, "Do you really think anything will convince him short of coercion? He has to want it for himself for it to be genuine or he's just going to run again and then neither of us will be able to find him."

"Very well, but-"

"No," Emma cut him off. "You're not the one running shit anymore. I will contact Neal and I will talk to him, the rest is his decision. In exchange, you're going to give us new identities and ensure we are safe. This is our deal, our way, and if you even think about double-crossing us or putting another hit out I will come back here and I will beat you to death with your own cane."

"Ooh," came a voice from the now open door behind them, "I quite like her, sis."

.

.

.

As part of the deal they ensured Zelena would be taking over Gold's Guild and he would help her merge his agency with the Royal Guard before leaving the business behind for good.

 _"I haven't decided on a name yet. Maybe the Royal Guild? The Dark Guard?" She stroked the sleeve of Emma's jacket, flirting with her for no reason other than annoying her sister. "You really are a White Knight, aren't you? Acting as Regina's personal bodyguard against Gold."_

 _Emma ripped her arm back from Zelena's touch, "She doesn't need a bodyguard. She's the bravest woman I know."_

 _"Ooh, such fire in your eyes. With that kind of passion and your penchant for violence maybe I could persuade you to join my forces as a Dark Knight."_

 _"I'm not Batman," Emma scoffed. "And I'm not leaving her."_

Zelena had somehow managed to remove anything of value from their home - Regina was relieved a box of pictures and two suitcases of clothing had made it out of the destruction and Emma almost cried when she found her favorite red leather jacket - and loaded it in Emma's old yellow Bug. From the brief amount of time she'd spent with her sister-in-law Emma assumed she knew how much Regina hated the car and that was why it was chosen as their getaway vehicle.

They drove it to a safehouse where Gold arranged to have one of his doctors meet them to tend to their wounds. Emma insisted she would be fine with a shower, some peroxide, and a couple band-aids but Regina definitely needed stitches on her bicep where she'd been nicked.

After a thourough examination the doctor left them with antibiotics, change of bandages, and instructions to keep their wounds clean and cared for. Regina had been quiet since getting in the car to leave Gold's office and once the door to the safehouse was closed behind the doctor and the locks were secured in place she took her wife by the hand and led her to the bathroom. They showered together, like they had in their own bathroom the morning after their fight, before breakfast and the chase on the interstate. After their fight the shower together had been a way of cleaning away the damage they'd inflicted on each other, kissing each bruise and scratch they'd caused on the other's body in a silent apology. This shower however was filled with Regina's quiet sobs.

"I know she was a terrible person, but she was still my mother. I had to have Hook pull the trigger. I didn't want to resent you for it later on and I'm not strong enough..."

Emma held her wife in her arms and let the water rain down on both of them. "You may not be strong enough," she pressed a gentle kiss to her wife's temple, "but maybe we are. You can have happiness now, you just have to fight for it. If you won't, I will. We are going to do this the way we do everything. Together."

Regina looked up into Emma's eyes and was overwhelmed with the look of tender affection reflected back at her. She leaned up and kissed the blonde, feeling the love pouring out, warming the heart she tried to keep cold and closed off for so long.

 _Zelena took a moment to study her sister and the blonde. "You're in love with her," she finally decided with a nod. "I can tell by the way you look at her."_

 _"Oh?" Regina chuckled, not used to being read so well especially about an emotion like love that her mother had drilled into her was a weakness. "And how exactly do I do that?"_

 _"The way the moon looks at the sun," Zelena replied instantly. "Like for the first time in your life you feel warm."_

"Together," she repeated like a vow.

.

.

.

Emma sent Neal an email containing only two words.

 **It's time.**

.

.

.

It takes Neal three days to reply to her message and when he does it's with two words of his own.

 **Storybrooke, Maine.**

.

.

.

In the distance Emma sees a sign labeled 'Welcome to Storybrooke' and eases the Bug to the side of the road. Over the town line a man and a small boy get out of a silver SUV and Emma starts to panic.

"I don't think I can do this."

Regina takes her hand, "Together."

.

.

.

The 10-year-old boy with Emma's chin and dimples and green eyes looks up at her, "Are you Emma Swan?"

"Yeah," she admits softly, her voice catching in her throat. "Who are you?"

"My name's Henry." He rocks on his feet from heel to toe with a mischievous little smile and all Regina can see is a tiny version of her wife. _EmmaEmmaEmma_ her heart sings and she loves the boy instantly. "I'm your son."

Emma chuckles a little and brushes away stray tears before kneeling down to be at eye level with her son - her _son_ \- and holds open her arms. He doesn't hesitate, like he's known her all his life and been waiting for her to come see him, and launches himself at her, enveloping her in a hug. She squeezes him tight and when Neal tells her Henry _had_ known all about her and _had_ been waiting to meet her when the time was right she hugs him too, thanking him over and over again for keeping their boy safe and not making her a stranger. When Neal tells Regina that Henry is named after her father because he was a fine man who had helped them disappear, she hugs him as well.

.

.

.

They move into a large home on Mifflin Street that the people in town call the Mayoral Mansion, though the mayor lives in an estate two blocks away. Henry lives with his dad in a loft apartment in town and his three parents work out an arrangement to share him. Neal works for the mayor's office doing IT and it doesn't take much effort for him to get Regina a job at the stables. When Emma grows restless she takes work from a bounty hunter in Boston.

"Want to come with me on this one, babe?"

Regina looked up from where she was helping Henry with his math homework, "Do you really need help tracking down a bail jumper, darling?"

Emma shrugged. "Stakeout rhymes with makeout," she tried to entice her with a flirtatious wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Moms, you're being gross."

They both looked at him in shock. It was the first time he'd addressed either of them with that title.

.

.

.

The next time he does so is at his school. The blonde and brunette are seated in the office, waiting to pick him up. He'd called his dad to be picked up early because he hadn't felt well.

The nurse needs the signature of the guardian coming to get him, so she looks up at the women waiting and asks him, "Which one's your mom?"

Henry simply shrugged, perfectly imitating the blonde's nonchalance. "They both are."

.

.

.

"I'm interested in the progress you've made in the last year."

"Umm..." Emma swivels in her chair in front of Archie to glance over at a smirking Regina. "Doing all right, aren't we? I'm not gonna lie to you, there were times when I wanted to..." she flexes her bicep and clicks her tongue to make a snapping sound, acting out how she'd like to choke Regina until her head popped right off her body, "...kill her, but-"

Regina shares an amused smile with her, "Likewise."

"-couldn't take the shot. Who'd have thought."

"That's a good sign," Archie chuckles. "Sometimes you have to battle through."

"That's marriage right," Regina says with a sly wink.

"Yeah," Emma smiles at her again, all warmth. "Take your best shot, and..."

"Oh, we moved. Got in contact with Emma's son-"

"Our son."

"Our son," Regina smiles, repeating the amendment.

Archie hates to potentially burst the bubble and ruin this lifted mood the couple walked in with today because he's so impressed with the progress he's seen since their last visit a year ago, but he feels obligated to warn them of the reality of marriage. "You know there will always be challenges. Threats out there." Regina and Emma look at each other, weighing his words and knowing how true they are, especially when applied to their relationship. "But you can handle it together."

Emma knows they can handle anything together, that it's become their mantra, but she can't help but tease her wife, "So far."

" _So far_?" Regina laughs, "What is that?"

"I'm leaving room for the unkown."

"So far," Regina scoffs with a chuckle and roll of her eyes.

"And do you feel your relationship styles are more conducive to this-"

"Ask us the sex question," the blonde interrupts him with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Emma," Regina admonishes her, a blush warming her cheeks and chest.

Archie squirms in his seat and Emma smirks, holding up both hands to flex her fingers and mouth _TEN_ while Regina side-eyes her, fighting off a smirk of her own.

.

.

.

After two years Neal confesses to the nature of his monthly trips to Boston. Emma takes them for work and had assumed Neal was privately seeing someone, but lately he'd started coming home pale and looking sickly and weak. She finally told him to spill it or she was going to spill his guts all over her living room rug.

With a chuckle he admitted, "Cancer might beat you to it, Em."

.

.

.

Three months after that the cancer had spread from his lungs and the occassional cough or rasp Emma noticed when they'd first shown up in Storybrooke, the one Neal had written off as too many cigarettes in his youth, finally took him.

At the funeral, Henry held Emma's hand and leaned against her arm while they both cried. Regina stood behind them with a hand on the small of Emma's back - keeping her grounded - and a hand on Henry's shoulder - soothing him - offering them both comfort with the gentle weight of her palm while she cried as well. They had lost one family member and were grieving the same way they did everything else, together.

.

.

.

On the cusp of being a teenager, it was getting harder to lock Henry down for any affection but that night he climbed into bed between them and let his Ma cuddle him and asked his Mom to read him a bedtime story.

"What would you like to hear, my little prince?"

"Tell me the story about how the sun loved the moon so much he died every night to let her breathe."

"There was once a moon," she started the story, speaking softly and brushing shaggy hair back from his eyes to lull him to sleep, gazing at her twin suns Emma and Henry who brought her warmth every day, "as beautiful as can be, only the stars could fathom, but the sun could not see..."

.

.

.

It takes them a long time to move on. They'll never forget, his Ma reminds him, always insisting that it was because of Neal that Henry had his best chance at a happy, healthy childhood unlike any of his parents. The last time his Ma had told him that, his Mom had squeezed her thigh and told her, 'you gave our son to Neal for that very reason, my love. You both gave him his best chance.'

"You should ask her to marry you again."

"What?" Emma laughed, almost dropping the baseball Henry tossed to her. They were playing catch in the back yard, both banished from the kitchen for stealing too many ingredients Regina was using to make dinner.

 _"No more lazy grazing. Both of you, outside."_

"Well you eloped last time, right? For your cover. You could renew your vows and we can have a ceremony here," he dropped the ball and ran over to her, jumping around excited. "Uncle August and Aunt Ruby and Aunt Kat can come!"

Emma looked inside at her wife, the wife who at one point had tried to kill her and now had mastered cooking because 'our child isn't going to be raised on Pop-Tarts, Swan.'

She turns her attention back to Henry, smiling at him, "Sounds like a great idea, kid."

.

.

.

"I give the whole thing six months, tops."

"You said that last time," Emma reminds Ruby with a chuckle.

"How long's it been now?"

"Eleven years."

"Twelve," Regina corrects her with a smile and shake of her head, knowing Emma's messing with her.

"Right. Eleven or twelve years."

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.

.

They buy Henry a car for his 16th birthday and when he pulls them both into a tight hug Regina's heart constricts thinking about the little boy who used to look up to smile at her and is now looking down, beaming and thanking them over and over again. They wave him away, letting him take it out to enjoy the rest of his day with his friends as long as he texts them to check in and is home by curfew. With some puppy dog eyes that look alarmingly similar to Emma's he gets that time extended an extra two hours and rushes out the door, yelling over his shoulder, "Love you, moms!"

Emma has her arm draped over Regina's shoulders and it reminds her of their first date and their baby is driving away from their home and it's all too much and the slow stream of tears turns into full-blown waterworks.

"Babe? What's wrong?"

"He's growing up so fast," she wails, turning to whimper into her wife's sweater.

"Oh, babe," Emma chuckles and then yelps when Regina pinches her.

"Don't you 'oh, babe' me, Emma Swan!"

.

.

.

When they hear Henry get home that night they both sigh in relief. Their room is dark and Emma knows Regina is relaxed because she's playing with her blonde locks, twirling a curl around her finger.

"Want to talk about it?"

Regina stills but remembers all the _togethertogethertogether_ moments they've had and admits, "When we were first married I looked into in vitro fertilization. My mother found out about it and told me 'love is weakness, Regina.' She had told me that my entire life, and it's haunted me a long time, but it really effected our relationship. That was when I started to pull away from you."

Emma pulls Regina's left hand closer, placing it over her heart so her wife can feel the steady beating of her heart. "Love isn't weakness," she whispers, tracing over the metal of the brunette's wedding band, "it's strength."

"Together," she whispers back, the same promise they made in the shower at the safehouse, when they first met Henry, when Neal told them he was sick, in their second wedding vows; all those _togethertogethertogether_ moments flicker through her mind again and give her strength.

.

.

.

Emma needed to reassure Henry he wasn't being replaced by a newer model because when she was three the foster family she was with sent her back when they conceived a child of their own.

"We want to expand our family. Give another kid their best chance. What do you think about that?"

He could tell she was nervous and then relieved when his smile wasn't forced or faked because he was honestly excited.

"I've always wanted to be a big brother."

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.

.

"Congratulations, Mrs. and Mrs. Swan," the adoption agent tells them with a smile, placing a car seat on the table in front of them with a tiny baby buckled inside.

She is three months old and they drove to an agency in New York City to pick her up. When Regina unfastens the buckles and gently lifts her from the car seat she takes a moment to just gaze at her daughter and smile with tears in her eyes at the grumpy expression that crosses her face at being disturbed from her slumber. She kisses the baby's little face and falls in love in an instant, the same flood of motherly instincts hitting her like they had with Henry.

The baby's little blonde curls peek out from the bottom of the cap she's wearing and Emma strokes her fat cheeks and kisses her forehead, pressing against the hair so similar to her own gently with her lips. Henry tickles her belly when she yawns and stretches and she opens her little eyes and gazes at him. They're kind of grey looking right now, but his Mom said babies eyes can change colors and he knows there's no genetic tie but he's hoping they end up dark brown like hers since he got Ma's green eyes.

Henry knows his mothers both have to fight their natural instincts sometimes. That he's kicked his soccer ball too close to the car once and his Mom had intercepted it perfectly. That the neighbor had stepped behind Ma and clapped his hand on her shoulder, startling her, and she'd had him wheezing on the ground in the next breath. He knows he's never been able to sneak out of the house because they're both alert and wary of their surroundings. He knows his Ma would be perfect for the sheriff in their town, but she's still struggling with her redemption and that's why she goes after bounties. He knows his Mom battles her inner rage and that's why she loves working with the horses because they calm her. He also knows his mothers love him unconditionally and when his sister is old enough he'll teach her how to spot the tracker his mothers hid in his car because he's sure they'll place one on hers as well.

"Ready to take her home, kid?"

His Ma still calls him that, even though once he finally hit his big growth spurt he started to tower over both his mothers.

 _"Your mother is a short ass, kid. Don't let her heels fool you."_

 _"I am not a 'short ass' and watch your language!"_

 _"Your mother also swears like a sailor when she thinks you can't hear her."_

"Oh, god. I just realized I'm outnumbered. Can I go visit Grandpa next weekend?"

Henry also knew his mothers both kind of hated his grandfather - though he was his Ma's boss at one point and seemed to have an odd sort of respect for her, and was his Mom's mentor at one point and it pissed her off when his Ma accurately called him her 'frenemy' - so their answer didn't surprise him.

"No," they answered in unison.


End file.
